Keeping Secrets
by PleaseKillMeNow
Summary: AU: When Sakura Haruno found out the school she was transferring to is not only an all boys' but also a school that literally revolves around fighting and gangs, she was pissed, yes, but played along. She really can't do anything about it after all. And at first... it wasn't so bad. Until THEY got interested, and suddenly, everything wasn't going as smoothly as she hoped it would.
1. Damn That New Kid

**FOR THE OLD READERS: **

_**This is actually the edited version of Chapter one, so for the ones who read my stories you may read this over again, it still has the same plot and chapter idea but with some added things. **_**_I might not be updating this until all the chapters are edited already. Sorry! _**

**FOR THE NEW READERS: **

_**Okay, so I had this story pl**__**ot in my mind for so long and it's been bugging me! I can't concentrate on my crossover story, The Wonders of Karma, and I just can't take it! It's eating me ALIVE! So now, I'm going to post the story but only one or two chapters for now. Just to lessen down the frustration. I still hope for reviews though! Hahaha, I'm a pig when it comes to reviews. This is slightly loosed on a fanfic story I read before. **_

_**When translated to English:**_

_**Saruwatari: 'Monkey on a crossing bridge.'**_

_**Gakuen: School**_

_**Sensei: Teacher**_

_**Hai: Yes**_

* * *

Haruno Sakura always considered herself as a very level headed and understanding girl. She could think rationally in tough situations, and she always took the time to understand any problem. It was one of her good qualities. She took pride in it. But right now, _right now_, being level headed and understanding could go screw itself!

She was irritated. Actually, irritated was an understatement. She was pissed off! So badly that she wouldn't be surprised if her eyes turned red and burnt anyone who dared to look at them.

Why was she so pissed off that she wouldn't be surprised if her eyes turned red, and burned anyone who dared to look at them? Well.

If there was one thing Sakura hated to do more than anything, it was transferring schools. If she was only transferring then she would be _just _irritated but she was _also _late, and not once but _twice_. And she absolutely detested being late. Unless, you know, she was doing it on purpose to piss off someone. Then she wouldn't really mind at all. She usually did that to her grandfather and to the people who annoyed her.

Anyway —

It was already halfway through the first semester, and by then everyone would have made friends and they would try to stare down at any new students, and judge whether they were to pose a threat to them or not –just like what this bastard in front of her was doing.

"Yes?" Sakura asked, desperately trying to conceal her anger as she stared at the guy who, quite rudely, called her name. The last thing she needed now was to end up in a fight with these buffoons on her very first day. Thinking back on the days she had received her grandfather's fury, Sakura internally shuddered. Yes, that was _definitely _the last thing she needed now.

Now you're probably wondering, 'why did she transfer if she hated it so much?'

Very good question.

You see, it all started when one of the students in her very first school, Nakashima Girls' High, managed to annoy her —a no easy feat, might she add—causing Sakura to punch her square in the face. _Un_fortunately, the girl was head of the student council and the president's daughter. That event was a complete surprise to her grandfather, though she had yet to understand why. He was the one who raised her after all. It also forced Sakura to 'relocate.' Her second school was somewhat tolerable, because it was co-ed, —during the first week. The moment she stepped into the classroom full of snobbish students and the oh-so-mighty teacher during the second week, she almost exploded. Keyword: _almost._ Sakura slightly applauded herself for her self-control.

That is, until the president of the student council thought it was funny to look down on her family. Sakura vowed that day to never go near a member of the student council ever again; they only seemed to cause her trouble. Which was weird, since the student council were supposed to _help _the students, _not_get them expelled.

"You're the new transfer," Sakura winced at the word, "student, Haruno, right?" Sakura remained silent, and peered behind the taller boy's shoulder, spotting the school name: _Saruwatari Gakuen._ She inwardly snorted at the name, and silently challenged her grandfather if this was really, and she quote, "The only school that could probably handle, and help, her stupid, unnecessary rebellious nature. That school would be perfect for her punishment." Because, seriously, _Monkey on a crossing bridge_ didn't sound as promising as he said the school was. Well, that didn't matter since she, because of the statement her grandfather had said, resented it already. Her rebellious nature was _not _stupid. Unnecessary, yes, maybe. But definitely not stupid. Well, at least, to her it wasn't, and that was more than enough for Sakura. Though she had to give her grandfather her applause. He finally found a punishment that successfully annoyed her to the core. What punishment, you ask? Sakura had to disguise herself as a boy _and_ act like one.

Why? Because Saruwatari Gakuen was an all boys' school.

"I heard you were kicked out from two schools already," Sakura's attention snapped to the taller boy, "because of fighting but I have trouble believing that." He advanced, and fingered her long pink hair that was tied in a low ponytail –she decided not to cut her beloved pink hair, it was the only reminder she had of her mom–. Sakura didn't even twitch at the sudden action. If this idiot thought he could scare her, then he got another thing coming.

"_You're the idiot!" _She screamed at herself, in her mind, _"You're supposed to keep a low profile!"_

Damn, that's right.

She had promised her grandfather no fighting for at least a week, just to give him some peace in mind. Sakura raked her brain for something to say, and due to the impossibly fast pace the gears in her head were running, said brain had a mental shutdown for a second.

"…Huh?" Sakura blinked, then proceeded to face palm herself internally. Brilliant, Haruno, you're a total genius. Why don't you just scribble the word 'STUPID' in all capital across your head?

"I can't really say that's what happened…I mean that's what happened, but in the same time it's not and, uhh..." Sakura tried to think of something when she was cut off by Mr. Arrogant-Loud-Mouth.

"You're too scrawny looking for fighting, and seriously, pink hair!? Out of all the colors you could dye it!? Ha, give me a break!" He commented, rudely pointing at her, thus making a few guys stop and turn to look at the scene; some even had the gals to laugh at her. A small tick mark appeared on Sakura's forehead and she tightened her fists, struggling to keep her composure. She watched as the nasty boy sauntered inside the school like he owned the place. Once he was out of sight, Sakura growled, dangerous killing intent flowing out from her being and effectively making the rest of the guys around her want to run home and hide under their beds.

"_Well sorry, pal, I was born this way so I don't really have a say in it."_

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Sakura's killing intent slowly diminished. Staying still until she was sure she wouldn't switch to rage mode if someone did something as simple as looking at her wrongly, Sakura walked inside the school, oblivious to the way the boys scrambled out of her way.

"_Get a hold of yourself, Haruno, you can do this!"_ Sakura encouraged herself, nodding securely as she searched for her respectful classroom. Spotting the 1-D sign, Sakura placed her ear on top of her class door. She nodded at the loud commotion, and slowly opened the door before creeping inside quietly. Spotting a seat that wasn't occupied, Sakura sat down. She glanced around the class and inwardly cheered at her success.

"_No one even noticed I'm here. Yosh, this was easier than I thought it would be!"_Sakura grinned cheerfully, plopping her elbows on her desk and resting her chin on it, just in time as the bell rang. Mutely watching as the door being opened, Sakura raised an eyebrow at the terrified looking teacher and snorted in amusement. Though her amused face was quickly replaced by a light frown as the assignments the teacher was asking for was rudely thrown in his face.

"_Such disrespectful action… Does grandfather really think these abusive snobs can help my supposedly stupid, unnecessary nature? If anything, they will only worsen it…"_Silently standing up, Sakura stalked towards the teacher, and bent down to help pick up the assignments. She ignored the startled look the teacher gave her, and continued to pick up the many papers.

"Here, sensei," she muttered, handing the papers to her teacher, faintly noting that the racket behind her died down.

* * *

"Hey, hey, look!"

"He's actually helping him?"

"…Am I going color blind? I see pink hair."

Fifteen-year old Sabaku Gaara groggily lifted his head, wondering what all the whispering and silence was all about. Well, actually, it was more of what the silence was about. The whispering was nothing new.

"…_mentally unstable…"_was Gaara's first thought when his teal colored eyes fell on the boy. Gaara stretched, blinking the sleepiness away. He watched as the boy picked up the papers on the floor, obviously unaware of all the bewildered stares he was receiving. Pinky was probably new.

"Here, sensei." Gaara heard the boy mutter, and he nearly rolled his eyes. Goody two shoes? Obviously new.

"Er, thank you…" The voice of the teacher snapped everyone out of their shock and the class, in that short time, seemed to have formed a silent agreement.

They all hated the new dude's _guts_. He needed to know his place.

Almost instantly, crumpled papers were flying everywhere, hitting the back of pinky. Gaara silently watched, and shook his head at his classmates' childish antics. Pinky, surprisingly enough, continued to chat with the teacher as if nothing was happening. Gaara tilted his head questionably. He was ignoring it. That was some guts the new kid had. Even Gaara himself might be able to respect such a person.

"Oi, oi! Bad idea!" He heard a classmate snare in a whisper, warning his seatmate.

His eyes was automatically drawn to the voice and he tensed in alarm when his eyes fell on the baseball. Gaara's arm immediately stretched to snatch the baseball —not that he particularly cared for pinky or anything, but an injury of the new student on his first day, especially by Gaara's -yes it was legal to call it Gaara's- class, would result to him getting detention— but it was too late, the guy had already thrown the said baseball. The whole class froze, holding their breaths as they watched the ball soar through the air, heading straight for the new kids head.

Gaara's eyes widened a fraction as an unnoticeable shiver broke through him.

"Sure, sensei! I'll help!" Pinky suddenly exclaimed, cheerfully grabbing the stack of papers and turning to the door, the ball missing the new-kids head by an inch or two. The whole class stared in awe at the new-kid. Did he really just dodge that?

Hearing the ball smack into the board, pinky twirled around and blinked innocently.

"Sensei?" Pinky asked, voice thoroughly confused. The class slowly relaxed, going back to their usual troublesome action.

"Haha, it was just coincidence!"

"He got me for a minute there!"

"I really thought it was going to hit him!"

Gaara stared at the smiling face of pinky blankly. That timing was a little too good to be called a coincidence. And at that time, that time before pinky yelled, Gaara could have sworn he saw pinky turn his head slightly to the side and glare at them. He wouldn't, couldn't, admit that glare managed to send shivers up his spine.

He shook his head, untamed red locks following the movement. Maybe he was over thinking it? There was no way that annoyingly cheerful and innocent –or, at least, that's what Gaara gathered from that small episode– guy could have managed to give him the chills. No way. Not even _the upperclassmen_ scared him, and they were pretty gruesome. The time when a pink-haired guy with the height of a gnome could scare him, or when Gaara would find him scary, was probably the day when that second year dude, the one with the weird whiskers tattoo, stopped obsessing over Ramen. And from the stories he heard…that would be never.

…He was _clearly_ over thinking this.

Gaara nodded approvingly, banishing the thought of the new kid.

"Thanks… though, I don't remember asking for your help…" The teacher said confused, slowly walking towards the door, his own papers in hand. Gaara's head fell on his desk, and he groaned quietly as all the suspicion once again crashed into his head.

This was unheard of. He never cared for anything before, not even his classmates. So why the hell was he so wrapped up with pinky? He barely even met the dude!

Yeah, he was mysterious.

He was a little _too_ oblivious.

…and then, he was very feminine looking.

Gaara felt himself twitch when he realized what he had just thought. Great, now he was questioning himself, on several plans.

Damn that new guy.

Damn him to Hell.


	2. You Got Some Explaining To Do

_**As promise, two chapters. I'm still waiting for a reply from my beta about The Wonders of Karma so I'll update this story to kill some time. There might be a possibility that I am going to update more, depending on my mood and the progress of this story and my other one.**_

_**Speaking of other story, feel free to check it out. It's obviously in my account and it's called The Wonders of Karma. It's a crossover between Inuyasha and Naruto with Sakura (obviously) as the main character. Reviews are highly recommended (very recommended indeed) and appreciated. Thanks for all the support so far. Also, Juugo's last name was totally made up, so don't go complaining that it's not his last name.**_

_**By the way, italic words could either be thinking or flashbacks, aight?**_

_**Enjoy and review ;)**_

* * *

"Nothing, _absolutely_ _nothing._" Gaara sighed in irritation as he stared, eyes half open, at the files in front of him. Specifically, the files of pinky or_ Haruno Saku_– and yes, it was the school files. His older sibling, namely Kankuro, had snorted when he saw the name on pinky's file a few days ago. Gaara couldn't really blame the guy, even he had to admit that the name sounded more like a girl's than a boy's. Anyway, it had been a week since Haruno Saku, pinky, came to the school and so far there was absolutely nothing worth knowing about his current annoying enigma. It was all the basic information, like academic grades –the boy was an absolute genius, with only straight A's– and physical education and his name, age, birthday.

You know–

_Useless_ stuff.

Gaara fingered the paper's tip and eyed the picture of Saku, noting that his pink hair was actually natural. As he continued to stare at the picture, Gaara couldn't help but think he really did look like a girl.

A cute one.

Gaara blinked at his own thought. Did he just really think that, _again_? He shook the thought away, flipping through the other pages and scanning every single one of them. Gaara slowly sat up straighter, as his eyes widen to its original size. He grabbed the page, and traced the words with his finger.

_Last school: Tomo Gakuen._

Never mind the fact that pinky was from one of the elite schools in Japan, Gaara had heard someone say that he was expelled from _two _schools. Flipping through the pages, Gaara stopped at the academic records and narrowed his eyes. It was the same thing. There were only grades for one school, Tomo Gakuen. What the hell? It was either the rumors that were entirely wrong, or pinky's information was filled in incorrectly.

"Gaara, we have to get going!" Gaara heard the voice of his older sister, Temari, yell from downstairs.

"I'm coming," Gaara said, putting the files under a bunch of other folders, before grabbing his school bag. Making sure to lock his door, Gaara went downstairs.

"Good God, Gaara! You're slower than Chiyo-baa-sama," Temari said, rolling her dark eyes at her younger brother. Gaara remained silent, as he watched his sister tie her hair in her usual four ponytail style.

"Where's Kankuro?" Gaara inquired, closing the car door.

Temari shrugged, grabbing her keys from her bag.

"Probably still asleep," she guessed, "he stayed up late yesterday making his homework; he's always complaining about how hard college life is," Temari stated, slowly driving out of the garage of their mansion.

Yeah, mansion.

The Sabaku family was one of the riches families in Japan; it was truly a wonder why Gaara was enrolled in Saruwatari. Though it wasn't a bad school, it wasn't the best one either.

"Homework?" Gaara raised an eyebrow annoyed in disbelief, "Since when did that idiot do homework without you threatening him to?" Gaara ended, glancing at his watch.

6:30 A.M

Damn it, Temari. _Way _too early.

"Who knows? I'm just glad I didn't have to hear his annoying voice so early in the morning," Temari answered, honking at one car that almost crashed into her. Gaara sighed as his sister rolled the window down to yell at the driver, who in return rolled his window down and yelled back.

"Keep driving," Gaara muttered, hiding his face.

Temari growled one last time at the driver, flipping him the bird, before driving away.

"So, how's school, Gar-Gar? Any problems for you, Mr. Scary-Leader-of-1D?" Temari suddenly asked jokingly.

"First, don't call me any of those two. Second, school's fine; nothing unusual." _Besides the fact that I'm starting to question my sexuality._ Gaara added in his mind, glancing outside.

"That's good. I heard you got a new transfer student?"

Gaara simply nodded at the question.

Temari's face wrinkled in confusion, "Well, that's weird." She mumbled, spiking Gaara's interest.

"What do you mean 'weird'?" Gaara questioned, his face as emotionless as always as he looked away from the window to stare at his sister.

Temari shrugged, "Well, your principle, Sarutobi-sama, isn't really one to accept transferees, is he? _Especially_ when it's already halfway through the semester." Gaara raised an eyebrow at his sister questioning.

Temari sighed before explaining, "A similar thing happened with Kankuro once, remember? Sarutobi-sama would've denied Kankuro's transfer, hadn't it been for Okaa-san, who was friends with his wife," Temari replied the unsaid question, taking note that they were almost at Gaara's school.

"Well, Haruno do seem to get along very well with Sarutobi-sama …" Gaara muttered, remembering once he saw pinky and Sarutobi-sama laughing at the hallway.

"Haruno?" Temari asked, moving her eyes from the road, "Did you just say Haruno?"

Gaara nodded absentmindedly.

She wrinkled her brow, "_Where have I heard that name before?_" She mused, pulling the car to a stop.

"Yosh, we're here. Should I come pick you up?"

"No, not today. I'm going somewhere after school, so I'll just walk home," Gaara injected, stepping out from the car.

"Alright. Don't stay out too long, you hear? Kaa-san is going to make me deaf with her lecture, if you do." Gaara smirked, nodding and closing the door.

"I'm not kidding Gaara!" His sister threatened him, "I swear if you do, I'm going to show you exactly why Kankuro is scared of that rubber ducky!" Temari raised her fist.

Gaara just shook his head, and walked inside school, ignoring the yelling coming from his sister. It was still very early, the school felt calm and seemed nearly deserted, just the way Gaara wanted it to be. He took his time at walking to his classroom, relishing the peace and silence. When he reached it, he wasn't surprised to see the classroom empty and simply walked towards his chair, laying his head down on his arms once sitting. He was up almost all night trying to figure out Haruno, occasionally questioning his own masculinity, so he was dead tired. But before Gaara could make it to dreamland, he heard a voice outside of his classroom.

"I heard that the first years got a new student a week ago."

"Yes, I met him two days ago…and to be truthful, I don't like that guy, something's off with him."

Gaara heard a velvet-like voice answer, and he knew immediately that it was none other than Uchiha Itachi talking. Meaning it could only be the members of the Akatsuki, who stood outside of his classroom.

"I agree with Itachi," one said, "Rumor has it that he was chucked from two schools because of fighting but he seemed harmless and…innocent, way too innocent, actually." _Akasuna Sasori,_ Gaara confirmed, recognizing the voice.

"Oh, come _on_! Did you see how _tiny_ that guy was with his pink hair and huge emerald eyes? That guy is no threat, and he doesn't look like he wants any trouble, let alone make it!" The gruff voice, one that Gaara could easily identify as Kisame, yelled.

"This Haruno might not be here to make trouble, but my guts tell me that he _could_ be trouble if something were to happen." Gaara nodded at his statement. It looks like he wasn't the only one thinking so.

"Puh-lease, unless I see it for myself, I'm not going to believe it. You know what they say, 'To see is to believe.'" That was the last Gaara heard, before their footsteps slowly echoed away from the classroom. Slowly bringing his head up, Gaara glanced at the seat beside him, the seat of pinky.

"_Just who are you, Haruno Saku?_"

* * *

"Wahhh… so tired!" Sakura exclaimed, stretching as she walked. "I wonder how Ino-pig and Hina-chan are doing?" Sakura mused, slightly skipping as she passed by different kinds of stores. School had already ended, and Sakura once again managed to avoid brawling with anyone for the whole day, though, she did feel like someone kept on staring intently at her.

And honestly, it was scaring the shit out of her. The fact that she can't find who it was, no matter how hard she tried to look, made it worse.

"Screw you, whoever you are, you psycho stalker…" She mumbled quietly to herself, rummaging through her bag for her book.

Smiling as she pulled it up, she opened it, "What page was I in?" She wondered, flipping through the pages, looking for the last line she had read. Grinning when she found it, she put on her reading glasses –yeah, she needs glasses to read, deal with it! – and hummed lowly.

"_What the fuck is wrong with you, Micheal? She obviously loves you! It's almost pitiful to read, you stupid shit! Even a blind person would be able to see that! …Well, maybe not a blind person, a semi-blind would be able to se_-"

"Haruno Saku, right?" Sakura stopped mid-step, glancing up from her book. Spotting the gray blazers, she slowly looked up at the three guys in front of her, eyebrow raised at them.

"Do I owe you guys' money?" She asked, her voice monotone.

"What?"

"Well, do I?" She asked impatiently.

"…No?"

She smacked her book close, "Then yes, I'm Haruno Saku." She confirmed, voice back to her usual cheerful tone. "So, who do I owe the pleasure for this visit from the almighty Yoshiki Gakuen?"

"I'm pretty sure you know why we're here." The guy in the middle stated, glowering at her in annoyance. Sakura immediately recognized him as Yasu Kawamura, vice-president of the student council in Yoshiki Gakuen. Meaning the other two behind him was Daichi and Arata, the secretary one-and-two. She had an idea as to why they were approaching her, but she had to admit, it was fun playing with people.

No, she wasn't a sadist; it just simply amused her to no end.

"Nope, I got nothing," Sakura said, placing a finger under her chin as looked at them, feigning innocence. Yeah, she really did know why they were approaching her, and who had sent him. But hey, it was that guy's fault for bullying her; she was just simply returning the favor. Maybe she would've been nicer to the guy, hadn't he made her drop her favorite dango that day. He learned a very important lesson that day.

_Never_ come between a woman and her food.

"Does Arashi Imai ring a bell?" Daichi suggested sarcastically, crossing his arms.

"…No, there's no bell ringing," Sakura stated, shaking her head as a no.

"Then… how about we refresh your memory?" Arata suggested, a smirk on his face.

Sakura felt someone push her into the alley beside her, "Hey, watch it! This book is new!" Sakura snarled, gesturing to the small book in her hand.

"Sheesh! Not everyone is as rich as you…guys…" She trailed off, watching as several people from Yoshiki Gakuen started coming out from the shadows, each holding either a wood or metal pipe.

"This, Haruno Saku, is for our president."

"…Oh shit."

* * *

All his life, Hokkaido Juugo was feared because of his intimidating height and appearance. Though he was definitely strong, he wasn't a bad guy. In fact, he actually hated fighting. He found those people who fought, just because they wanted to prove themselves strong, idiotic. He especially hated it when the strong bullied the weak. No one knew that about him, though. They all assumed that he was a big, scary guy that would beat up anyone who dared to come within a one foot radius of him.

When he was younger, it had been uncomfortable for him because of the way people eyed him with fear, but as the years passed he learned to get used to it. But just because he was used to it didn't mean he liked it. No one wanted to be alone, after all. He wanted at least one friend, one friend that would see past his appearance. And to his utmost shock, and happiness, he was finally granted one that goes by the form and name of Haruno Saku. That guy was the first one who didn't let his appearance get to him, the first one to speak to him so casually. Juugo could still remember when he first seen him.

The first time he actually saw Haruno Saku, the pinkette looked like he was caught in the middle of a fight between the 1-D and 1-B.

_Juugo was passing by the schoolyard; another fight was going on, just like always. He was ready to simply ignore the whole thing altogether, when something bright caught his attention. Freezing his actions, Juugo turned his head to the right, and spotted a short, long pink-haired kid –the guy appeared to be a first year, with his height and all, so it was fine for Juugo, who was a second year, to call him a kid– that he have never seen before creeping away from the intense fight. What confused Juugo, though, was that the kid kept on glancing back desperately, looking as if walking away was killing him inside. Juugo watched as different expressions flashed through the boy's face. From desperation to anger, to shame and then finally to determination._

_All those in ten seconds flat._

_Juugo remained still as he watched one of the 1-B fighters break loose from the pack, and make his way towards the lone boy. He shook his head, thoroughly disgusted of the whole ritualized ordeal. He had seen it many times, and he was even a part of it once too. Juugo felt a momentarily swell of pity for the short, unknown boy who was about to be beaten to a bloody pulp by his much, much larger opponent._

_"Where has humanity gone?" He wondered out loud, looking away from the scene and walking towards the gate, only to pause yet again, moments later, by a deafening smash._

_Turning around swiftly, Juugo flicked a strand of his dark orange hair out of his vision and scanned the fight for the source of the noise. The hound of brawling students clearly didn't notice a thing, much to Juugo's surprise, but his red-orange eyes soon locked on the pink-haired student he had been observing moments ago. Lying almost four or five feet away from said guy, among the broken remains of what used to be a bench, was the 1-B student who had aggressively approached the pinkette less than thirty seconds ago._

_Juugo's eyes widen in disbelief, he wasn't sure what to think. Was he supposed to think that that little guy actually did that? _

_He silently watched as the boy's hardened eyes slowly softened, before his face looked absolutely regretful and sheepish. __The other 1-D and 1-B students remained oblivious to what the second-year student had just witnessed._

The second time he saw Saku, Juugo one-sidedly considered them friends, though he had a gut feeling that so did Saku.

_"Aww man, I can't believe I actually got it dirty! Grandpa is going to kill me if I don't take this off," the pink head said to herself, opening the bathroom door. To the kid's surprise, and delight, the bathroom was relatively clean and not that smelly. The only one who occupied the bathroom was a huge looking guy with spiky orange hair, who raised an eyebrow at her after zipping up the front of his pants._

_"Ah, sorry!" Sakura yelled, embarrassed that she was caught staring. He was probably thinking she was homo, or something._

_Juugo watched from the corner of his eye as the pink-haired student, who appeared to be sulking, walked towards the sink beside him and pull out a stained handkerchief._

_He raised a brow at her, "What are you doing here?" he asked causing the kid to glance at him questionably._

_"As you can see," the kid slightly shook his wet handkerchief, "I am washing my handkerchief."_

_"No, I mean, why here?"_

_Saku blinked, looking lost. "Uhh, because it was the closest to my classroom?" the pink-head answered, unsure._

_Juugo frowned, "Don't you know that no one comes here, because I'm here?" Juugo challenged, turning to Saku, who immediately raised a pink eyebrow._

_"Sorry, but is your name written on the door, or did you have the paper from Sarutobi-sama proving that you own it?" Saku said, making Juugo blink at him._

_"…No?"_

_"Then this is a free restroom." Saku went back to his dilemma, while Juugo was left speechless._

_"Aren't…aren't you afraid right now?"_

_"…Huh?" the pink head looked at him weirdly, "What's there to be afraid of? All I see is the most pleasant looking bathroom in this school, and a fellow schoolmate."_

_Juugo gaped at him, "Fellow…schoolmate…?" Juugo repeated, looking as if the words were foreign to him. Saku didn't look like he heard him as he was furiously scrubbing the handkerchief, glaring at it when nothing happened. Juugo continued to gaze at the mysterious human being in front of him._

_Saku turned from the sink, suddenly bowing, "My name is Haruno Saku by the way," He introduced._

_"Hokkaido Juugo," Juugo replied, bowing as well._

_"Nice to meet you, Hokkaido-san. Now, since this stain obviously won't come out, I should go before Gai-sensei kills me with a speech about how un-youthful it is being late."_

_Juugo chuckled, surprising himself. "Try dipping it in alcohol, then use soap to wash it off, that should do the trick," Juugo suggested while Saku grinned brightly at him._

_Juugo managed a small smile, in spite of himself._

_"I'll go try that. See you around, Hokkaido-san!" Saku said, walking towards the bathroom exit. "…I wonder if Shizune-nee-san would let me borrow some…"_

_Juugo remained in the bathroom for a few more minutes, staring at his reflection when he noticed the tiny smile that was praying his lips as he registered what happened._

After that, they started eating lunch together, not that anyone knew about it, and sometimes they even hung out together after school. It was the first time in a long while that Juugo felt so happy. All because of Saku, his friend, his very first friend.

It was only natural that he'd make sure that Saku was safe.

So when Juugo saw Saku get pushed into an alley, he wasn't surprised to find himself quickly running towards the ally, though it was a bit far from where he was. Hadn't it been for Saku's absurd hair color he wouldn't have known it was him.

"C'mon…" Juugo whispered urgently as he glanced back and forth between the red light and the alley.

Sprinting to the other side the second it turned green, Juugo prayed Saku wasn't hurt badly. Juugo froze when he spotted someone coming out from the alley and he felt relief surge through his body when he saw the familiar uniform of Saruwatari on Saku's body, which didn't have a single scratch or dirt on it. Saku slowly placed a pair of glasses on his nose, before taking out a red covered book from his bag pack. When he opened the book he started humming loudly as he walked away from the dark alley. Juugo stood still, waiting for the other three guys he saw to come out. When no one did after a couple of minutes, Juugo approached the alley and peered inside it.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

"Oh my God…" He whispered, staring, wide-eyed, at the scene before him.

Around twenty people were lying in all sort of positions –they looked to be thrown that way they– and they were either almost unconscious or _are_ unconscious. Metal pipes, and wooden bats were dropped on the ground around them, broken in several pieces.

"Saku…did this?" Juugo realized, ripping his gaze away from the scene to the back of the walking pinkette.

Yes, Juugo is strong, and yes, he could have won against these weak looking people as well, and yes, he could have handled it without getting scratched. But, Saku, he didn't even appear to be _sweating_. Juugo silently gulped; there was more to his friend that just a good brain.

Something shinned on the ground, and Juugo glanced down. He knelt down and picked it up gently. Jingling the little keychain one last time, Juugo stood up and walked the opposite direction of Saku, without sparing even a glance at the mess in the alley.

"…You've got some explaining to do, Haruno Saku..."


	3. Secret One is Revealed

_**Okay, I have a lot of free time in my hands right now so free time equals bored equals new story ideas equals new chapter! I, surprisingly enough, don't feel like murdering my sister every time she speaks to me, which set me off to a good mood today. The things patience can do for a person, right? Anyway, since I got such lovely reviews, I shall reward you. I'm sorry if you feel like you're my dog. I swear I would never do that to you guys. By the way guys, the Sakura's school uniform is basically the same as Toradora's uniform. Go search it if you guys never watched Toradora before! :)**_

_**Favorite and follow me and my stories guys! :) Don't forget to review! My goal is to get at least 100 reviews for this story! Help me guys! The more reviews, the faster I might update! :D**_

* * *

"My dear, lovable, generous, and wonderfu-"

"No."

"You don't even know what I-"

"I don't care."

Sakura ignored her grandfather's pouting, and leaned back in the armchair she was sitting in. She plopped her feet up on the table in front of her, simply because she knew how irritated her grandfather would get. Sakura smirked at her success, her grandfather was trying –very hard she might add– to keep his left eye from twitching, but it was no use. She knew he wouldn't scold her, at least not here and now. He couldn't when the bosses of several yakuza clans were gathered in the other end of the room, and he was especially asking a huge favor of her.

She knew she was pushing his buttons, and she would, definitely, get an earful later when no yakuza bosses were around but it was a little price to pay just to see how easily she could ruffle the feathers of her grandfather, the supposedly 'Great, Stoic, and Powerful clan head of Tazekawa'.

Yes, her grandfather was the clan head of one of the most respected yakuza families in the Japan, Tazekawa. It was her mother Tazekawa Mebuki, actually, who was the daughter of the Tazekawa head. When she was young, she had declined the position as the next clan head, wanting to become a doctor. There had been a huge commotion in the Tazekawa clan, with the majority disagreeing to her mother's plans. But after a long while of arguing back and forth, Tazekawa Mebuki convinced her family that, yes, she would become a doctor, whether they wanted it or not. They couldn't argue back once the clan head finally gave up and welcomed it. Mebuki had always been daddy's little girl, or so Sakura was told. Later she married Haruno Kizashi, taking his last name, and naming Sakura so in the process.

Sakura was very fond of her name, Haruno. It had a nice ring to it. Plus, it made it so much easier to hide her background that way.

As of now, since both her parents were deceased and because she thought it was a good way to epay her grandfather for all he has done for her, Saku had agreed be the fourth generation heir to the Tazekawa family, no matter how badly she wanted to follow her mother's footsteps.

"Sakura-chan, will you really leave your poor grandfather to handle all these people by himself? Just think of it as your next lesson as the next kumicho." Her grandfather grinned, brightening up his not-so-wrinkled face.

Sakura snorted at him. "Firstly, please don't call me that. Second, you've been handling 'these people', as you call them, before I was born, you old fart. And last but not least, you _already _taught me all the things I need to learn about these kinds of meetings," Sakura stated, turning her head away from her grandfather with a huff.

He raised a brow at her cockily, "How do you know I taught you everything there is to know?" he retorted.

"Because you said, and I quote, 'this is why I hate these kinds of meetings.' And then you did a dramatic sigh and shake of the head, 'Remember everything I taught you, Sakura, if you do then I have nothing else to teach you about this.'" Sakura said, mimicking her grandfather's voice.

"Pfft. I doubt you'd have remembered that, it was probably a long time ago, you couldn't have clearly-"

"It was three days ago." Sakura swiftly injected, flipping her phone open.

As she scrolled through the missed calls, Sakura absentmindedly took note to call Ino later, seeing how majority of the missed calls were from her. The others were from Hinata, probably because she hadn't answered any of Ino's calls. Making a note to herself to text Hinata, Sakura was about to close her phone, when it suddenly vibrated, the caller ID appearing on the screen.

"_Juugo? It must be urgent. He usually just texts me…_"

Sakura glanced at her nagging grandfather, who didn't seem to realize she wasn't listening, and quickly pressed the answer button.

"Hey Juugo, what's up?" She asked, ignoring her glaring grandfather, who had finally taken notice of her lack of attention.

"Young lady, I was talking to you!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, before turning attention back on her phone.

"…What was that?" Came Juugo's confused voice. Sakura slightly wondered if his voice was always so deep and husky before answering his question.

"No one of importance."

"No one of importance?!"

She chose not to reply to that, "So… did you need anything?" She questioned, ignoring her grandfather, who was having an outburst next to her.

"...Juugo? Juugo! Hey, are you okay!? You didn't get rape or something, did you!?" Sakura asked horrified, oblivious to the odd look her grandfather spared her.

"…W-What? No, of course not! Nothing's wrong…" Juugo said back, confused. "And who is that, in the back ground?" he repeated his question, sounding suspicious.

Sakura tensed again, "…My grandfather." She answered before quickly shifting to a different topic, "if nothing's wrong, then, why are you calling me? You usually text me," She blamed, pouting.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted her grandfather, who was desperately mouthing sentences to her. 'Who is that? Is that a boy?! That's a boy, isn't it?!' Rolling her eyes, she stock out her tongue at him.

'None of your business!' she mouthed back.

"Uhm… I actually wanted to ask you about something… You see, I-"

"Just a sec, Juugo." Sakura pleasantly said, before putting a hand over the phone's speaker.

"Don't you have a meeting to go to?!" She hissed in a dangerously low voice, curtly nodding her head towards the door behind her.

Her grandfather pouted like a child, crossing his arms, "I will not set foot out of this room until you tell me who this 'Juugo' person is," He said firmly, making Sakura raise an eyebrow challengingly.

"Oh, really?" she asked pleasantly.

"Yes!" Her grandfather responded.

"So you won't go to that meeting unless I tell you, eh?" she challenged, "You know, I have no problem with ruining your image, and the respect the other yakuza bosses have for you." She countered, giving him a pointed look as she tapped her watched.

Sulking, he walked to the door, "…You win this round, Sakura-chan, _but_, not as the Tazekawa head, but as your grandfather I demand an answer the moment the meeting ends!" with that said, he stormed out of the room.

A slight smirk tugged her lips, "Ha, tough luck, _Oji-san_. Because I won't be here when it ends," She said to herself, as she grabbed her school bag.

With the messenger bag thrown over her shoulder, she walked out of the door, "Izuna, Kotetsu. Please make sure grandfather does his paper works, 'kay?" she said, as she passed by them.

"Hai, Ojou." they saluted, though Sakura was already out the door, and on her way to her apartment. In all the hassle, she had forgotten about her phone, and that someone was actually waiting for her.

"Sorry for the wait, Juugo," she apologized, as she made her way over the street. "You were saying?"

"…Huh? Oh, uhh…actually, Saku…I, uhm, forgot to…to…to feed my pet cat! Yeah, fat little kitty, he is! Hahaha, so I gotta go. See you at school tomorrow." Sakura blinked at Juugo's suddenly squeaky voice but before she could question him, the line went dead. Slowl,y she brought her black phone in front of her face and stared at it dumbly. She shook her head, deciding not to think too much of it.

Still, something was off.

"…I thought he was allergic to cats?"

* * *

"Ahh, why did morning have to come so soon…?" Sakura mumbled. A yawn broke through her as she tied her hair in a low ponytail. Successfully making her face look less girlish than before, Sakura swept her eyes through her clothed being. A black, long-sleeved, button up shirt with a high collar was worn over her plain white shirt, hiding the equally white chest bindings underneath it all. Matching black pants hid her legs and white, ankle-length socks covered her feet. She didn't doubt one bit that she was probably the only person in the whole school who wore the school uniform properly.

Walking out of her room she smiled, "Good morning, Tou-san, Kaa-san!" she greeted the picture frame cheerfully as she walked inside her kitchen. In said frame was the picture of her diseased parents. They were laughing, her dad holding her mother tightly as he gave her a peck on the cheek.

Glancing at her clock, Sakura immediately wrapped her apron around her waist and prepared her lunch. Cracking some eggs and adding salt to it, Sakura scrambled it before turning on the stove, deciding to make an omelet for her lunch.

"_I'll just buy breakfast from Baa-chan,_" Sakura thought, slightly drooling at the thought of the older woman's homemade bread. The best bakery shop she ever went to was definitely Baa-chan's. Sakura snapped out of her daydreaming when she smelt something burning, and her eyes drifted to her cooking pan. She shrieked and turned off the stove.

"Itai!" Sakura cried out, as she shook her burnt finger. Opening her cabinet, Sakura grabbed her ointment and quickly spread some on her finger.

"Early in the morning and I already got injured," She muttered, wrapping a bandage around her burnt finger. Getting back to her lunch, Sakura chopped the omelet to tiny pieces and placed it all over her rice, giggling when she made a scary looking face. She quickly closed her lunch box and wrapped it with cloth.

"Time to go. I'm leaving now, Tou-san, Kaa-san!" Sakura informed the picture, putting on her brown school shoes. Opening her door, Sakura smiled, stretching as she took a deep breath. The air was nice and fresh, a wonderful air for a wonderful morning. She threw her bag over her shoulder.

"Oh yeah, today will so be my day!" Sakura grinned, skipping. She had only skipped a couple of meters when she froze.

She couldn't hear the familiar sound of her key chain on her bag. She lifted the bag, inspecting it. She gasped dramatically when she found the little samurai key chain gone then paled. Where was her key chain? Quickly, she thought over all the possibly places she could have lost it.

A voice shocked her out of her thoughts, "Good morning, Sakura-chan!" Her head snapped up in panic at the mention of her real name. Sakura gave a relieved sigh when her emerald eyes fell on Baa-chan.

"Shuuu!" Sakura shushed, holding a finger over her lips as she looked around cautiously, "My name is Saku, S-a-k-u, alright?"

The elderly lady laughed, nodding as Sakura walked up to her. "What do you need, Saku-chan?" Baa-chan joked, laughing when Sakura gave her a look.

"Saku-_kun_, Baa-chan!"

"Nope, I'm keeping it."

Pouting, she looked at the elderly lady, "Fine." Sakura couldn't argue with the old lady, it _was_ Baa-chan after all. "Anyway, Baa-chan, I was wondering if I could-"

She was interrupted by Baa-chan, who quickly pulled out a paper bag and started putting two steamy breads in it.

"Say no more, Saku-chan. Here you go, straight out from the oven! It's on me, by the way." Baa-chan placed the paper bag in Sakura's soft pale hands. Sakura gave her a quick hug, grasping the paper bag.

"Thanks, Baa-chan, I'll see you after school!"

Baa-chan waved at the retreating girls back. As she watched the pinkette greet other shop owners, Baa-chan wondered how long it had been since Sakura moved in. Two, maybe three, years now? Her smile faltered, when she remembered why the girl chose to live alone and a frown appeared. Memories from that one night flashed through her head and Baa-chan sighed.

"Honestly, that girl. I don't know how she stays so bright... Even when this cruel world continues to torture her."

Sakura hummed as she took a bite of her bread, munching happily. She brightened when she saw the familiar height, and hair, of her best friend, Juugo. He was walking all alone along down the side walk, shoulders slightly slouched.

"Wuudo!" She called, pausing to swallow the bread before shouting again, this time louder and clearer.

"Juugo!" Sakura ran, stopping beside him.

"Err…hey-" Juugo's sentence was cut short when Sakura held a finger up, trying to catch her breath. She took a few more deep breaths before standing up straighter.

"Good morning!" She chirped, smiling up at him, who continued to stare at her with a mixture of hesitance, relief, and happiness.

"…Good morning," Juugo said hesitating a bit as they resumed their walk.

Sakura raised a brow at him. Well, someone seemed a little different today.

"You okay? Oh, and what did you need last night? It sounded like you wanted to ask me something?" Sakura asked, her second and last bread in her hand as she looked around for a trash bin.

Juugo paused, "…Aa," Sakura looked at him with curious eyes.

...

...

He paused, "…Aa," Saku looked up at him with huge curious emerald eyes. "Saku…" he started off.

"Yeah?" his friend asked, his innocent eyes lingering on him. "What is it, Juugo?" Saku took a bite of his bread, munching on in.

Juugo sighed, "…How's school?" he finally ended, shoulders slouching in defeat and he inwardly sighed again. He couldn't do it. Damn it, how the hell was he supposed to bring the topic up!?

Saku's brow rose a little in confusion, "School's fine, I guess. My grades are okay, the teachers are nice too," Sakura responded, throwing his crumpled paper bag in the trash bin. Juugo lightly snorted inwardly. Yeah, sure, his grades were _just _okay. Translation: all A's.

Juugo hesitated again, "No one…No one at school is giving you trouble, or bullying you?" he asked.

Saku looked thoughtful for a moment, worrying Juugo slightly, "Well, not really… They mostly just ignore me, and occasionally tease me for my pink hair and short height," Sakura responded, sulking.

Juugo found himself giving out a low chuckle. As much as he loved Saku, in a friendly manner of course, he had to agree with the other students. His best friend was abnormally small, especially for a guy, he only reached the short height of 5'2' making Juugo tower over him with his 6'2 height.

"…How about _outside_ of school?" he asked, emphasizing outside.

Saku's eyes flashed in surprise, "…Sometimes," he replied after a slight pause. Juugo took note of how short and straight to the point the answer was. Unlike before, Saku hadn't bothered to elaborate his answer.

"Are you-"

"The bell rang; we're going to be late!" Saku suddenly exclaimed before sprinting towards the school, Juugo hot on his trails due to his reflexes and speed.

* * *

Juugo stood on the roof, looking over the school. The wind, which was playing with his orange hair, was cool and nice. He was thinking hard. What was he supposed to say to his friend?

He had, over the phone, yesterday heard who Saku truly was. Saying he wasn't surprised and a bit scared would be a lie. It was his best friend! Little, cheerful, innocent pink haired Saku, who apparently was the next clan head of one of the scariest yakuza clans in Japan. Though he was surprised it didn't affect how he felt about Saku, not the least. He just wanted to confirm what he knew; he would accept Saku no matter who he was related to.

Still, he had no idea of how to bring up the topic with Saku. Saku was his first friend; therefore Juugo had no experience with such stuff. He wondered for a moment,

"I… accidentally overheard your conversation with your grandfather yesterday… no. That's no way to bring it up," he mumbled to himself.

"Saku, is it true you are the grandson of the Tazekawa leader? I mean, I heard you, and I swear I didn't mean to eavesdrop but-"

"So that's why you've been behaving so strangely today." Juugo jumped, giving a slightly girly squeak, and turned around at the sound of Saku's voice. Juugo gulped noticeably as Saku gave him a cheeky smile.

"I didn't want to hide it from you. Believe me, if I was allowed to to tell you, I would have." Saku rested his arms on the fence that lined the whole roof.

Juugo looked at the smiling Saku, "…I don't mind it." He finally said, his expressionless face giving the slight smile that he only gave around Saku.

Saku's head snapped towards him, eyes wide in surprise, "Y-you don't?" Saku stuttered, voice thoroughly surprised. Juugo silently shook his head.

"…Thanks a lot, Juugo."

Saku quickly excused himself, wanting to buy a soda in the cafeteria.

Juugo shook his head again, remembering Saku's gentle smile, "…No, thank you, Saku."

There was a lot Juugo wanted to know about his friend, about why he hid his fighting abilities, why he even attended this school, why he had befriended him. But Juugo knew, he just knew, that they would have lots of time together in the future.

Juugo suddenly remembered something. He turned, took his jacket from its place on the ground and fiddled a little with his one pocket zipper before he pulled out Saku's key chain. "…I forgot to tell him that I have his ke ychain…"

He smiled, clenching his fist around the key chain; he would have plenty of time to give it back.

Meanwhile Sakura stood in the cafeteria, making a very, _very _important decision.

"…lemon or apple…? Lemon or apple...?"

Well, important for her.

Lemon was her favorite flavor, but she felt like drinking something more…fruity. At the same time she wanted lemon. Damn it, if only there was a mixture of the…two.

Saku face-palm herself.

She was such an _idiot_.

There was, in fact, a can of juice with the mixture of lemon and apple.

She grinned happily when she spotted what she was looking for, and proceeded to click on the respective buttons after putting in her money. Hearing the loud _thud _the can made, Sakura reached down to get her drink. She smiled when she felt the familiar sensation of the lemon, and the apple gave her. Taking another gulp of the drink, Saku chocked and wheezed as someone bumped into her harshly.

The guy turned around, raising a fist at her. "Watch it, midget!" He snarled, causing the most of the cafeteria to give them their unwanted attention. Sakura winced at the stares that were drilling holes into her being, feeling a well-known emotion surging through her chest, and Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration. All the way across the room at the right corner, the Akatsuki glanced at the scene in interest.

"Hey, 'Tachi. It's pinky," Kisame said, nudging the stoic boy beside him.

"Hn."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the wincing boy; he never really had gotten over his gut feeling. In fact, he could feel it coming up again, stronger than ever. He didn't know _why_, he didn't _like_ it. But there was just something about that boy that made him…_queasy_.

There was something more to Haruno Saku, and he knew it.

The voice of the pinkette called his attention, "Uhm, sorry." Even though he was all the way across the room, he could hear the weak voice of the boy. Probably because everyone else was dead silent. Well, of course they were silent, the one Haruno Saku had bumped into was none other than one of the top fighters from the third-year group.

Itachi wondered if the boy had known, and purposely bumped into the third-year. Itachi decided that even if he hadn't known, it wouldn't have done him any good either way.

Still, Itachi had that feeling again. That feeling that there was more to the boy, more to Haruno Saku.

"What did you say?!" The majority of the people in the cafeteria cringed at the loud voice. Itachi sent the third-year a light glare, not that the third-year noticed, and continued to watch the scene unfold itself.

The pinkette slightly glared at the third-year, surprising him. "Nothing, damn it. I didn't say anything!" Itachi, and most of the Akatsuki, watched as the boy waved his arms frantically, looking angrily at the third-year. Itachi, though, noticed how the boy kept glancing around nervously, as if someone was going to jump out and rip his head off.

"You scrawny fag, I know you said something!" the third-year gnarled, grabbing the collar of the boy, lifting him up in the air. When he was a few feet over the ground, Itachi heard Kisame snort next to him.

"Oh for goodness sake," the boy muttered, looking a bit more annoyed, "I didn't say anything!" he bit out at the third-year.

By now the most of the cafeteria was chanting, all yelling things like 'Fight, fight!' or 'Beat his ass!' Itachi wasn't surprised when Hidan and Deidara joined in, asking the third-year to give that first year a good beating. He felt himself roll his eyes at them, how had they made their way into the Akatsuki?

The third-year raised a fist, warning Haruno, "You know I hate people like you! You're just so weak it's pitiful to watch!"

Itachi raised an eyebrow at the almost unnoticeable way Haruno's body froze. He shot Pein a glance. The orange headed male nodded back, indicating the freeze didn't escape his eyes as well. The third-year shook as an angry scowl adorned is face, signifying that Haruno probably muttered something to him again. He pulled his hand back, and this time Itachi was sure he would punch the boy.

"You piece of shit, you'll pay for that!" The guy snarled, his fist now clenched and aimed at Haruno's face. His fist was only inches away from breaking the button nose of the pinkette, with everybody cheering loudly for the third-year-

-until his fist was stopped, another hand holding the third-year's fist in a bone crushing hold and silence erupted.

Everybody's eyes searched for the face of the interrupter, "I suggest you don't touch my best friend. That is, if you don't want to reach a premature end." An absolutely lethal voice growled, sending chills up the spine of most of the people in the cafeteria. Even Itachi had felt a little shock at the voice; he quickly sent a look to Pein, who seemed surprised as well. Itachi's eyes quickly made their way back to the interrupter.

The third-year gulped, face full of fear, "H-Hokkaid-d-do!" he managed to stutter out when he realized who it was.

True enough, the infamous Hokkaido Juugo was standing behind Haruno Saku, one fist clasped around the third-year's while his eyes were pinning the third-year with the scariest glare Itachi had ever saw Hokkaido Juugo give someone. Cracking sounds were heard as Hokkaido Juugo tightened his grip on the fist in his hand.

"Let go." The orange head demanded.

The third-year flinched in pain. "Hai!" he quickly let go of his grip of Haruno Saku's collar, dropping said boy to the ground. The orange head gave him one last glare, tightening his grip further on the guy's fist one last time before letting go. The third-year dropped to the ground, cradling his _broken in several places_ hand.

Many watched as Hokkaido Juugo's face expression changed to a soft, more human, one.

"You okay?" he asked, pulling Haruno Saku up from the floor.

The boy nodded at the orange head, "Yeah, thanks, Juugo." He answered, making whispers start all over the cafeteria.

"Juugo?!" Kisame whispered shocked, his eyes almost bulging out of its sockets. Yes, it was indeed surprising that the small boy knew the most feared guy, even more so that they seemed to be friends.

The orange head inspected his friend from injuries, seeming relieved when he found none.

"C'mon, let's go, you left your lunch upstairs," He muttered to the pinkette, his voice ringing in the cafeteria mostly because people were still silent in shock. The two quickly left, taking the door to the roof.

"…Did that just happen?" Hidan asked, too shock to curse like his usual self. Itachi ignored him, and went back to eating his lunch. Acting as if that little episode never happened.

It's a Uchiha thing.

Taking a bite of the tomato, he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Hokkaido Juuga hadn't interrupted the fight. His most reasonable part told him that the boy would have been beaten to a pulp, while another part of him actually thought that Haruno Saku would have won.

He took a bite of rice whit his chopsticks.

And yet another question popped up–

How and when did Haruno Saku manage to befriend the dangerous and infamous Hokkaido Juugo?


	4. Second Years Get Suspicious

_**Heyooooo! ;)**_

_**Thank you guys for reviewing my story. And for those who favorite and follow me, and my story, thank you as well.**_

_**You've been very kind to me. :D**_

_**I was also wondering if someone could try to draw my story-version Sakura, in her boy disguise and uniform. If you care about this story, you will try. :D No matter how bad you are at drawing.**_

_**I'm trying to make a story cover, but I'm really bad at these kind of things.**_

_**Don't miss the review button! :D**_

_**By the way, I noticed I never said this before, sooo I'll do it now!**_

_**I DO NOT OWN THE NARUTO SERIES OR ITS CHARACTERS!**_

* * *

"Sakura!"

"Ino-chan!" Sakura greeted back cheerfully, not managing to dodge the hug her blonde friend gave her.

"Sakura-chan." greeted her other best friend silently, giving a gentle smile.

Sakura tilted her head, throwing back a smile. "Good morning, Hinata-chan!" She greeted, "I'm amazed; you managed to get that lazy Ino-chan out of bed." She laughed, as she easily dodged the punch the blonde threw at her.

Ino was standing, like Hinata, in her school uniform. Her arms were crossed, a wrinkle in her forehead. "Oh, shut up. I know you missed me, Forehead!" she huffed, sending a playful glare at the pinkette.

Sakura smiled, it had been awhile since she had last seen those baby blue eyes, and that silky platinum colored hair. She rolled her eyes, a wide smile on her face, as the blonde flipped her bangs dramatically. "Sure. I totally missed your conceited, annoying, dramatic ass," She said, sticking out her tongue.

Ino rolled her eyes in response, "I can feel the love, Forehead," she said sarcastically, earning a snort from the pinkette, who easily continued to dodge a load of punches from the blonde.

Hinata frowned slightly, before sighing, her pale, nearly white eyes shinned pleadingly. "Now now, girls... It's been a while since we last saw each other." She started, her always gentle and innocent smile back on her face. "So Sakura-chan, Ino-chan. No fighting, please." she softly scolded the two.

Ino huffed, looking away with a pout on her face. "…she started it." She childishly pointed out.

Sakura rolled her eyes yet again, "Real mature, Ino-chan," she mumbled, quietly so that the blonde wouldn't hear her.

Hinata turned her attention towards her, "How is school, Sakura-chan?" she asked in interest, slight worry in her voice.

As Sakura was about to answer Ino jumped into the conversation, a familiar look in her eyes; one Sakura didn't quite like. "Any eye candy over there?" she asked, playfully winking at Sakura, elbowing her in the side repeatedly.

Sakrua thought for a moment, "Well, not really… I mean, they all look pretty average to m-" her sentence was interrupted, by a very familiar deep voice.

"Saku!"

Her two girl friends looked curiously at her, as she turned around, greeting her best male friend. "Mornin' Juugo!" she said loudly, smiling brightly at the slightly panting male.

The orange head smiled back, "Good morning!" he said, ruffling Sakura's neatly tied hair, earning a scowl from the pinkette.

She glared at him lightly; it had become a habit for him to always ruin her hair. She pouted, intending to say something, when someone, namely Ino, cleared their voice behind her.

Rolling her eyes she said, "…right, sorry Ino-chan. Juugo, this is Yamanaka Ino. She's a rude, narcissistic bit- Ouch, what was that Ino-chan?!" Sakura pouted, looking accusingly at the blonde, who snorted at her.

Ino smirked in victory, "You're getting rusty, Forehead." She stated, examining her rainbow colored nails.

Sakura crossed her arms, "Lucky shot." She defended, before turning back to the smirking Juugo.

She flushed in embarrassment, "Anyway," she said, eager to move onto another topic, "this is Hyuuga Hinata. Girls, this is Hokkaido Juugo, my best friend from school." She introduced quickly.

Hinata looked at him uncertain, eyes quickly reverting to the ground.

He was tall, quite handsome, but also… a little scary.

Juugo's gaze softened, as he smiled softly at her. "It's nice to meet you, Hyuuga-san." He said, bowing slightly.

Hinata looked at him surprised, a flush of embarrassment on her face. "Likewise, Hokkaido-san,"She said, bowing politely. "Thank you for taking care of Saku-kun!" She quickly added, bowing again, this time a little deeper, in gratitude.

Juugo's eyes widened slightly, before retaking their original size. "Not at all, Hyuuga-san, if anything I should thank you for taking care of him until now." He said, his smile gentle.

Hinata's face turned tomato red, "Not at all!" she insisted.

Juugo inspected her face, curiousness evident in his eyes, "Hyuuga-san, you don't happen to be related to Hyuuga Neji-san, do you?" he asked, and Hinata gapped at him.

Closing her mouth she nodded, "Why yes, of course. He's my paternal cousin." She answered.

Juugo nodded, "Aa. Hyuuga-san doesn't talk much of his family." He stated.

He wasn't very close with anyone from the school, but Sakura. He had a few acquaintances though, one of them being Hyuuga Neji.

Hinata's smile faltered, "Is that so?" she asked, before quickly changing topic.

While Juugo occupied Hinata, Ino quickly took the change to drag Sakura away from the two. Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked at the pinkette with a mixture of anger and irritation. "You call that pretty average?!" She demanded in a whisper.

Sakura raised a brow innocently, tilting her head in confusion.

Ino face palmed at her, forcefully turning the pinkette's head. "Look at him!" She demanded in a whisper, jabbing a finger towards the tall male.

Sakura looked annoyed at the blonde, rolling her eyes before finally gazing at her best friend. "I'm looking?" She muttered.

Ino huffed, "And what do you see?" She asked.

Sakura looked weirdly at her, "…My male best friend?" She stated, in a questioning tone.

Ino face palmed the second time that day, and sighed loudly in frustration. "…Seriously," She muttered under her breath.

Then her head snapped towards Sakura, her gaze suddenly wild, "Wait," She said, "does he know you're a…" She looked around, securing the area for any unwanted ears, "…girl?" She finished, looking nearly horrified at Sakura.

Sakura shock her head, "Nah, but I feel bad not telling him. He knows about the family business, though. He found out, just the other day." Sakura explained to her friend.

Ino gazed at Juugo, her blue eyes narrowing before she smiled gently, something that was very unlike her. "…you could always tell him, he… seems like a nice guy." Ino said, Sakura humming in agreement, glancing at the chatting pair.

Ino smirked, "Speaking about guys, Forehead, I can't imagine how those supposedly 'average looking guys' actually looks like. Especially now that I know your definition of average." Ino sighed dreamily, her eyes sparkling at the thought of handsome guys.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "You disgust me." She simply said, sticking a finger into her mouth, pretending to gag.

Ino raised a brow, "That time a month? Poor you, Forehead." She taunted.

Sakura flushed, because it actually _was_ that time of month, and her friend had always had a creepy sixth sense about those sorts of things."Shut up!" She hissed, as she turned around, "Juugo, let's go!" Sakura called out, gaining Juugo's full attention.

Juugo nodded, before turning back to Hinata. "Alright, Saku." He replied, "Nice speaking with you, Hinata-san."

"You too, Juugo-san."

It didn't go past Ino that the two was now on first name, she said nothing about it though, and just grinned like a mad man.

She gave Hinata a teasing wink, causing the raven head to turn crimson. Turning around, she waived at Sakura. "Saku-kun, we're going to pick you up from school today!" She announced brightly, before dragging Hinata away.

Sakura huffed, "Don't expect me to wait for you, Ino-chan!" She called back, slight irritation in her voice.

"Whatever!" came a distant yell, from where Ino and Hinata had walked off to.

Juugo raised an eyebrow suspiciously, "Ne, Saku…" he asked, gaining the attention of the pink head."Is Yamanaka-san your…" Juugo trailed off, hopping his friend would take the hint.

Sakura looked up innocently at the orange head, "My what?" she asked absently, before her face paled considerately.

She looked at Juugo horrified, "Oh God, no!" she screeched, face adapting a more green color, "You have no idea how wrong that would be." She stated, shuddering slightly in disgust.

Juugo chuckled, "Sorry." He apologized, "You just seem very… close." He admitted.

Sakura's expression softened, before she rolled her eyes, "Yeah." She said sarcastically, "We're _real_ close, to snapping each other's necks, that is." She said as she dug through her bag pack to get her phone.

The action reminded Juugo of something important, and he quickly graphed something from his pocket. "By the way, Saku, I believe this is yours?" Juugo said, jingling a keychain in front of her face.

Sakura, hearing the familiar sound, immediately snapped her attention away from her bag and to Juugo's hand.

Her expression lightened, "Musashi!" she yelled, grabbing the keychain, hugging it tightly.

Juugo raised a brow at her, "Musashi?" he asked amused.

Sakura tied the keychain around the zipper of her bag, "Don't ask," she deadpanned, smiling as the keychain now was attached. "So, Juugo, you were getting along pretty well with Hinata-chan?"

Juugo instantly flushed, rubbing the back of his head in what seemed to be embarrassment. "I… I don't know what you're talking about." He lied, his eyes quickly surging away from Sakura.

Sakura grinned, "What do you mean? You two become friends rather quick from my point of view," She said, her smile purely innocent.

Juugo paused in his actions to stare at his best friend blankly.

The pinkette really was naïve, dense and innocent.

Juugo cleared his throat, "Never mind, Saku… But, Hinata-san, she was… very friendly." Juugo complimented.

Sakura grinned, nodding in agreement. "Mhmm. She's kind of like you, in a way. She didn't mind about the family business at all. She and Ino were some of the very first to befriend me, for me." Sakura paused, "…and I was the second to befriend her, with no ill intentions." At Juugo's questioning gaze she explained further. "She's the first in line to a big, well known company…"

Juugo's look saddened, "…People pretend to be her friends because of it?" He asked sadly, thinking back at the gentle person he had just met.

Sakura nodded, "Yeah. I… didn't have that problem, though." She looked away, her gaze softening. "They were to ones to save me after all." She quietly stated, "…and they know about my life…" She softly said.

"You're life?" Juugo asked, curiousness evident in his voice.

Sakura's head snapped up as she realized she had said that out laud. "Hmmm? Did you say something?" Sakura asked, a cheerful smile on her face.

Juugo raised a brow at her suspiciously, before giving up on the topic as he noticed they had arrived at school. Their fellow students sent the duo terrified looks; well, they were most likely dictated to the tall orange head.

Juugo didn't seem to mind, though. He was used to it, and shrugged it off easily. "You said something about your life, earlier?" Juugo reminded her, curiousness evident in his voice.

Juugo could swear he saw the pinkette freeze for a moment, "Yeah, you know, my grandfather and the family business…" Sakura responded, shrugging, a wide smile back on her face.

Juugo stared at her out of the corners of his eyes, Sakura had said it so offhandedly and casually that it really seemed true.

But then why did Juugo feel like his best friend was lying?

Juugo sent his friend a suspicious gaze, as the pinkette stopped. "Oh! We're already at my class room." Sakura said, "God… I can't imagine how awkward it will be once I get in."

Juugo chuckled at her words, before patting her head. "Don't worry about it; I'll see you at lunch."

With that the orange headed male, headed towards the stairs, in slight jog.

Sakura watched him leave, before leaning her ear against the door. She could hear laughter, people yelling, and what seemed like people fighting.

It was the usual ruckus.

Relieved, she opened the door, only for the noise to stop. As silence took over, all eyes turned to her. She grimaced internally, closing the door softly behind her.

Even though she walked quietly towards her table, her footsteps echoed. Quickly she sat down, and faintly noticed that her seat mate, Sabaku Gaara, was staring at her even more intensely than the rest of the class.

Actually his glare –It couldn't really be called anything else– was so intense that she was surprised that she hadn't busted into flames yet. It wasn't new to her, she had felt him staring at her like that before, and she wondered if he might knew something about her he shouldn't.

Sighing, she pressed her forehead against her desk, "This is going to be a long day…" she muttered, not loud enough for anyone besides herself to hear.

* * *

Sakura sighed internally as she felt herself get dragged into yet another classroom. She felt two sets of arms pin her to the wall of the room. It was already the third time that day, and really, it was becoming old rather quickly. She looked around, irritated, noticing that she was surrounded by a group of guys, eleven as far as she could count. Luckily for her she had managed to leave the other classrooms without fighting. It seemed the most of the school wanted answers, answers about her relationship with Juugo.

Trying to keep her voice in line, she said, "…I know you want answers, but couldn't you at least wait until the end of school?" Her voice sounded a little strained, despite her attempt to keep it nice and friendly.

It was really getting irritating. It wasn't funny getting pushed into abandoned rooms, interrogated, and treated as a weakling. They were really testing her self-control, which wasn't as strong as before since it was her time of month, and it didn't help that they were making Juugo wait for her.

A boy, with brown hair and strange red triangles at his cheeks, glared at her. He stepped into the front, examining her face. "…And you're supposed to be Hokkaido's best mate? Wow, that dude sure got funny taste." He commented.

Sakura couldn't help but snort, her nice and goody two shoes act crumbling down. "And that comes from the guy who's carrying around a puppy, on his head?" Her tone had changed, and she noticed the surprise that filled the brunettes face. "Now, gentlemen, if it isn't too much of a bother… could you let go of me? I'm late for lunch with my best friend." She said, as the boys just stared at her.

She shrugged of the hands that kept her to the wall easily, much to the two guy's surprise. "Yes? Perfect." She said, her usual smile, and tone, back.

She bowed politely, smiling a mock smile at the brunette, before swiftly turning around to leave the room. And just as her hand reach the door handle, the brunette blocked her way.

"I don't remember giving you permission to leave." He said, hands in pockets, as his gaze narrowed on her.

Sakura was just about to run out of patience.

She walked the two steps, and roughly grabbed a hold of his collar. "Look here, Inuzuka, I'm becoming real tired of this shit," She gave a glare, "and unfortunately I'm also quite busy, so if you would kindly postpone your stupid interrogation,until later, that would be most delightful, okay?" She hissed, in a low, dangerous voice they hadn't heard before, or even thought he could produce.

She dropped him from her hold against the wall, giving him her greatest glare, actually managing to scare him a little, not that he would admit it. "Thank you." She gritted out, not sounding even a bit pleased at all.

She opened the door with more force than necessary, setting foot outside the room, only for her wrist to be caught. She turned around to stare at the idiot who was dumb enough to mess with her in her current mood. Her happy fake smile completely vanished, as she laid eyes upon the Inuzuka again.

The brunette froze spot on at the completely icy glare he received. He gaped at her for a moment, before squishing her wrist with brutal force. "I didn't say you could leave." The tone of his voice was strong, yet it sounded forced.

And just like that…

Sakura completely snapped.

Nothing was heard from the room but chairs getting smashed against walls, people groaning, and moaning, in pain.

Only ten minutes later, a pinkette stepped out of the room, a little white puppy in hand. The only indication of the fight being the thin, bloody scratch on her left cheek. Inuzuka was a little better than she had first thought, but it didn't matter in the end though; he still lost.

Sakura smiled pleasantly, "Thank you for reconsidering." She said, in a sickly sweet voice, as she closed the door behind her.

The puppy tumbled around in her arms, showing its teeth at her.

Sakura gently placed it onto the hallway floor, and watched as the puppy immediately ran towards the stairs that led to the second floor, home of the second years.

She smiled at it, though she didn't like Inuzuka so far, his dog was quite amazing, she had really taken a liking to it. It looked one-sided though, but really, she couldn't blame the puppy for it, not after what she did to its owner.

She turned around on her heel, walking towards the stairs that led to the roof.

"Hey!" She greeted Juugo, who was quietly eating his lunch, at the bench. "Sorry for making you wait." She apologized, sitting down next to him.

He smiled gently, like he always did. "No problem." He said. His eyes widened when they met the blood on Sakura's cheek, "You met some problems on your way here, I suppose?" he grasped his handkerchief, drying of the blood on Sakura's cheek.

Sakura shrugged, "Only a few," she said, her master smile on. "I kept being shoved into rooms…" She explained nonchalantly.

"Why?"

She sighed, "People are curious about my relationship with the strong, terrifying and almighty Hokkaido Juugo." She replied, winking at him playfully.

Juugo rolled his eyes, "…Very funny." He said, "Is that all? Then, what happened to your face?"

Sakura tilted her head at him, "Nothing really… it's taken care of already," she said cheerfully.

Juugo's gaze narrowed, "You didn't, did you?" He asked, slight worry in his voice.

Sakura waved him off, "Of course not." She said, a little too innocently.

At Juugo's knowing gaze she rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay." She admitted, "Maybe I did. But it really hurt what he did to my face…"

Juugo chuckled at her, "Saku, you know you're not allowed to fight." He lectured, in a big brotherly manner, "What if they tell on you?" he asked her.

Sakura smiled a slightly sinister, "Then I'll let you fight them." She said, tilting her head innocently.

Juugo chuckled once again, "What if I'm not there?" he asked, his tone indicating slight worry.

Sakura sighed, "Okay, okay, fine." She gave in, "I won't fight unless it's an absolutely life and death situation, how's that?" She pouted at him.

Juugo nodded slowly, "…okay."

She slapped his back, "Oh, stop worrying! Nothing's going to happen!" She assured him, grinning at him.

Oh, how wrong she was.

* * *

"Oi, Naruto, Sasuke!" a familiar voice called them, and their attention immediately turned to the tall, brown haired boy, known as Shikamaru.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the brunette, while Naruto looked dumbly at him. "Hey, Shika!" He greeted. "Something wrong? You usually let others rely your messages to us, you lazy ass," The blonde said, his blue eyes dancing in wonder.

Sasuke rolled his onyx eyes at the blonde, before giving the brunette his full attention. "What is it, Shikamaru?" he inquired in a bored tone, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Shikamaru's brows wrinkled, "Not good." He replied. "Kiba was beat up pretty badly." He stated.

Naruto's playful smile vanished, as he gaped at Shikamaru. "What? What do you mean?!" he demanded.

Sasuke raised a brow, slight curiousness evident in his eyes. "Please do continue," he said.

Shikamaru sighed, "Well, right now the idiot's at the clinic, getting patched up together with the group he's in charge of." Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, "We don't know much yet, they're all completely knocked out."

Sasuke raised a brow, turning around, "Hn." Naruto followed him as they walked towards the infirmary.

As they reached the doors, Naruto smacked them open, quickly walking over to the bed the brunette was lying on. "Kiba!" he shouted horrified, only to receive a fist on top of his head.

Annoyed hazel eyes glared at him, "Shut up, brat. This is the infirmary, so keep it down!" Naruto looked at the school nurse, Tsunade, and her assistant, Shizune.

His eyes watered, "But Baa-chan, we heard Kiba was hurt!"He whined.

Tsunade sighed behind him, "Yeah that kid's pretty bruised up." She said, pointing at the boy. "He'll be fine though, just let him sleep it off." She said, returning to her desk. "You really should stop fighting, you stupid brats." She muttered at him.

As Naruto looked around, He couldn't help but let his jaw drop. Those boys Kiba was in charge of were all sitting in different beds, all bandaged up in several places.

"Holy mother of Ramen, who did this?" He asked.

A voice shocked him from behind, making him jump. "That's what we're trying to find out." It was Neji, a respected member of their gang.

"Neji, don't scare me like that!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke raised a brow at the Hyuuga, "Have you tried asking them?" he inquired, referring to the boys.

Neji nodded, "Of course we have. But what they say doesn't give much meaning." At Sasuke's raised brow, the brunette looked annoyed at him. "The only thing the idiot's have done so far is crying about some monster which attacked them." He clarified.

Sasuke huffed, "That's not much help." He said, annoyed.

Neji nodded, "Currently our only lead is Kiba, who has yet to wake up." He explained, gesturing at their sleeping friend.

As if on cue, the sleeping brunette woke up, looking around dizzyingly. "Kiba, man, are you alright? Talk to me, bro!" Naruto said dramatically, flinching at the glare Kiba shot him.

A hand to his head, which was thumping terribly, he narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "I don't know, you tell me," He said. "Wait… where am I?" He suddenly asked, making both Neji and Sasuke blink in shock at him.

"Woah, you got knocked out pretty badly, weren't you?" Naruto said jokingly as he patted his friend on the back. "You're in the infirmary, where else?"

Kiba looked around clarifying his surroundings, "You're right…I am." He confirmed.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Who attacked you?" he asked, wanting to waste as little time as possible.

Kiba looked at him strangely, "What'dya mean?" He asked. His eyes wondered around in the room, and he realized his gang where there, all patched up in different places. "We were attacked?" he then asked, looking both disturbed and confused.

Neji sighed as he closed his eyes, "And there goes our possibility of finding the attacker…" he said.

The dog, which lied on top of its master's stomach, gave out a tiny growl, getting the attention of Kiba.

"What is it, boy?" the dog jumped from the bed, running out of the room, at full speed, quickly entering it again. Jumping back onto the bed, the dog spat something out on it.

Naruto paled, "Gross Kiba, I though only cat's coughed up fur balls!" He said, referring to the strands of pink hair that now lied on Kiba's bed.

Neji's brow rose, "…Is that what I think it is?" he asked, picking it up, ignoring Naruto's chanting of how disgusting it was.

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, pink hair." He stated.

Naruto stopped in his tracks, "Wait… your dog doesn't have pink hair." He stated dumbly at Kiba.

The brunette rolled his eyes, "No shit, Sherlock. Obviously this is someone else's hair." He said.

Naruto looked at him weirdly, "Why would your dog go fetch someone else's hair?" he asked stupidly.

Neji sighed impatiently, "Akamaru was the one who went for help when they were attacked earlier. Obliviously he knows of the attacker, and he is clearly trying to help us." He explained.

Naruto snorted, "Yeah, still, who has pink hair?" he asked.

Sasuke looked seriously at Neji, "There's that first year, that's hanging with Hokkaido," He said.

Neji's gaze narrowed at the hair, "…Haruno, if I remember correctly." He stated at Sasuke.

Naruto gaped at the two, before laughing loudly. "That little guy? I doubt it!" He said.

Neji glared at the blonde, "Well, then, please do mention any other guy from this school who has this unique color of hair?"

Naruto frowned, "…But Haruno's totally weak!" He stated, looking frustrated.

"I'm not so sure about that, Naruto."

Naruto jumped three feet into the air, "Holy shit, you guys seriously have to stop doing that!" he complained, glaring angrily at the Nara.

Kiba looked at him curiously, "What'dya you mean, Shika?" he questioned.

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing the back of his head lazily. "A couple of second years mentioned seeing you, Kiba, push Haruno inside a classroom during lunch time-" Shikamaru was cut short.

"I did?" Kiba wondered out loud, blinking stupidly at the Nara.

Shikamaru sighed, as he continued "-and Haruno Saku looked pretty well, eating his lunch at the rooftop with Hokkaido last time I saw him." Shikamaru ended, purposely ignoring Kiba's interruption.

Naruto looked shocked at Shikamaru for a second before turning around, pointing at the Inuzuka. "...Bwahaha! You got beat up by a midget! Hahahah!" He laughed crazily, holding his stomach. "Not just by any midget, a midget with pink hair! This is so hilarious!" Naruto continued to laugh, wiping his tears away. "God, make it stop!" Naruto wheezed and panted, trying to control his laughter. "It hurts! My tummy hurts!"

Kiba glared at Naruto, a light blush appearing at his cheeks. "Shut up, you idiot! It's not that funny!" he yelled, his fist rose at Naruto.

Sasuke left the infirmary, Neji and Shikamaru beside him.

His eyes narrowed, "What you're saying is absolutely true, Shikamaru?" he asked.

The Nara nodded, "It is." He confirmed, with confidence.

Neji gave a thoughtful look, "I do recall him saying he would go get answers." He added.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, "I can't believe people from our jurisdiction got beat up." He said annoyed.

After slight pause, he looked at Shikamaru and Neji, "I want to know everything about Haruno Saku. Neji, dig all you can about him out. I want his school files, health reports, everything you can find." He said, getting a nod from Hyuuga. "Shikamaru, I want you to interrogate the first years, they should know the most about him."

Sasuke watched as the two disappeared around the corner. He glanced outside, spotting something pink. His eyes narrowed, and he walked closer to the window. Just like Shikamaru said, it was Haruno and Hokkaido in the roof top. They were talking, well Haruno was, and eating lunch.

The pinkette turned, meeting Sasuke's eyes. The two shared a staring contest, neither wanting to break the contact, until Haruno looked away to smile friendly at Hokkaido.

As soon as the pink head had done that, a chilling glare was sent Sasuke's way.

"What the…" The raven head muttered in surprise. He glanced back at the roof, only to find it empty.

"There's defiantly something fishy about you, Haruno…And I'm going to find out what."


	5. Don't Push It

_**Hi guys!**_

_**I'm so thankful for all of the reviews! Keeping Secrets is slowly, but surely, reaching the one hundred mark! I'm so excited!**_

_**Awwww… Everyone loves Juugo, well, that's to be expected. I never actually thought of him as a villain in Naruto, he was more like in between good and evil. Well…he suffered from something like multiple personality disorder so I guess he is in between good and evil.**_

_**Hahaha!**_

_**I actually had writer's block. It was super duper scary! :o I've never tried having that before so it came as a bit of a shock to me. But, with the help of my super duper wuper awesome BETA reader, I came through! Yatta! Cheers for her! :D**_

_**I DO NOT OWN THE NARUTO SERIES OR ITS CHARACTERS!**_

_**Enjoy~!**_

* * *

Boredom.

It wasn't everyday Uchiha Itachi encountered the not so welcomed emotion.

With his life, who could blame him for it? He was the son, and the heir, of one of the richest families in Japan, a proud member of the Akatsuki, and he faintly remembered being even more famous because of the modeling jobs he did here and there for his family's company.

Those three things should be enough to keep boredom away from the Uchiha, and still it didn't.

Being the heir of a rich family there wasn't one thing he couldn't do. And as a member of Akatsuki, a gang which did a lot exciting stuff, he had the respect from the whole school, and the fear of other gangs. And then, as a model he had attracted lots of fans, mainly girls, who he rejected on daily basis. He doesn't like doing it, but it gave him something to do, right?

But right now, nothing interesting was happening. Since his father was out of the country with his mother, on a business trip, there had been fewer assignments for him at home. And there were, surprisingly enough, no girls to reject that day, the whole all-girls school they usually came from was on a field trip but even though, there is usually at least _one_. But the most annoying was that the Akatsuki seemed peaceful, which it never was; that mostly due to the Deidara and Hidan, who always got into trouble. They usually fought/annoy that second-year group his brother was in charge of. Really, there wasn't –Hold up.

He paused while his dark blue-haired partner continued walking, whistling a tune distractingly.

His foolish little brother.

Now that he thought about it, where was his little brother? It had been several days, around a week or so, since he last seen him, and Lord knows how abnormal that was.

"Kisame." Said partner glanced at him questioningly, "Would you accompany me to the second-year's floor?"

Kisame grinned, scratching his cheek where a gill tattoo was present, "We're going to annoy your baby brother? Count me in!"

They stopped in front of Sasuke's class room. Itachi opened the door, and complete silence met him. His eyes trailed over the students in the class, but lastly looked at his blue friend. "It seems he is not here." He stated, turning his attention on the boy in the nearest seat. "Aa. Yuuko-san, have you seen my Otōto?" he asked.

The student quickly shook his head, "N-no. I- I haven't!" he quickly denied, his complexion now that of a ghost.

Itachi nodded before his gaze fell on the rest of the class, "May I know where my Otōto is?" he asked, silently hoping for a better answer.

The class gulped, despite how polite Itachi asked –it was to be expected, they had heard that Itachi was one of the calmest one, after all– they still feared him as an Akatsuki.

Itachi's eyes narrowed dangerously, having enough with the silence, "Where is my Otōto." He demanded.

A boy from the back quickly spoke, "H-he and the o-other leaders a-are frequently having m-m-meeting these days… s-so we barely s-see him!" he stuttered out.

Itachi raised an elegant brow, "Meetings?" he inquired.

"Yes. But, I'm afraid; they are none of your business, Aniki." Came a familiar voice from next to the door.

Every class mate of Sasuke's flinched as they felt the room drop several degrees, when the two brothers locked eyes. It was no secret that the two powerful Uchihas despised one another, though they still spoke to each other respectfully. Most people assumed that it was because they still somewhat cared for each other, but then again, who knew what was going through those Uchiha minds?

The staring contest was cut off as Naruto came running into the room, "Oi, teme!" he called the raven head when he noticed the two unwelcomed guests. Naruto's hand flew behind his back secretly, keeping the folder out of view.

"Fishy." He greeted Kisame.

"Fox boy." The blue man greeted back.

As the two stared at the Akatsuki members, Sasuke finally asked, "Is there something you need, Aniki?" His onyx eyes never left his brothers face, not even for a split second.

The older Uchiha paused before nodding, "I have a message from Okaa-san. She says that we are strictly forbidden to stay out after ten o' clock." Itachi explained, gaining a slight twitch from the younger Uchiha, who wasn't happy that he had announced it in front of his assigned class.

"Is that so?"

Itachi nodded, turning around to walk out the door, "That is all. Have a good day, Otōto." Sasuke didn't reply, and settled with glaring at the two Akatsuki as they closed the door shut.

"Kisame, did you see it?" Itachi asked, eyes forward, as they made they made their way to the third floor.

Kisame snorted and nodded, "Little punks tried to hide it, but yeah, I did." he said, shaking his head as though the idea was funny, "They had a file about that first year, Haruno." He stated. "I only saw one, but heck it was pretty thick." He commented, laughing.

Itachi hummed lightly, slowly walking up the stairs.

"Hey, did you hear about the incident?"

Itachi paused mid step, glancing down the stair case below him, spotting three second years sitting on different steps of the stair.

"You mean the one during lunch last week?" one of them asked, plopping a chip in his mouth.

"Yeah… I heard it left Inuzuka Kiba, and a bunch of people from his class, in pretty bad shape."

"Eh? Is that why he hasn't been in school these last few days?" Itachi eyed them, Kisame soon joined him, leaning on the railing to hear better.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you haven't heard about it. It's been the talk of the second years since it happened. Rumor has it they messed with some pretty dangerous dude, and─ Hey, give that back!" One of them yelled out as another one snatched his chips.

"…Uchiha-san hasn't done anything about it yet?"

"It's not like he can, anyway, no one knows who did it." One explained, "Inuzuka-san doesn't seem to remember anything about that incident, they say he might've lost his memory... People think it was one of the third years, but they were all stuck in class during lunch that day… so Uchiha-san is a bit of in a pinch." The one speaking sighed, "… Still, they seem to be in meetings a lot more often now, my guess is they are trying to find the attacker… If they haven't already, that is."

Itachi's eyes widened slightly as things puzzled together in his head. He quickly made his way to the third floor, turning the opposite way of his classroom.

"Woah, dude. What's up now?" Kisame inquired, following behind Itachi.

The Uchiha frowned, "We need to find Pein." He firmly stated.

* * *

Sasuke tapped the teachers' desk impatiently, his eyes occasionally searching for the door, "Where the hell is that idiot?" he asked annoyed, his low patience seeping through his voice.

He, and the rest of Konoha Five, was in their usual meeting room, the abandoned class five.

Shikamaru yawned loudly from the desk he had taken at the front row, looking up from his jacket he used as a pillow. "He's so troublesome…" the Nara commented, getting an agreeing nod from Neji.

Neji was standing against the window, near the teachers' desk, arms crossed. "Indeed he is." The pearl eyed boy agreed, sending an impatient stare to Sasuke, who acted as their leader.

Kiba, who sat on a chair next to Shikamaru, Akamaru in his arms, rolled his eyes at the blonde who had yet to arrive. "Can't we just start without him? It doesn't make a difference if he's here or not. Well, maybe it's less funny… But it's not like he listens anyway." he said, Akamaru giving a bark of support.

Sasuke gave one last look at the door, "Hn." He grunted, sending Neji a look.

The brunette walked a few steps, stopping at the desk next to Shikamaru, and grasped a thick report concerning a certain pink head. Neji cleared his throat, "I'll start with the basic information… His full name is Haruno Saku. Fifteen years of age, his birthday's the 28th of March. He's five foot two," Kiba snickered, which was ignored, as Neji continued, "100.09 lb, and his blood type is O negative."

Neji flipped a page of the abnormally thick report, "He has no allergies and no forms of illnesses, in fact, his health is so good that it's almost abnormal." Sasuke looked unimpressed as Neji continued to read the background profile, "His parents, Haruno Kizashi, a famous novel writer, and Haruno Mebuki, a simple house wife, are both deceased. So since the age of twelve he has been living alone in an apartment, a little away from here with the help of his grandfather." Neji stated.

Kiba tilted his head a little, "So, he's an orphan, huh?" he stated.

Neji's eyes narrowed at the paper, "Before he started here he attended the prestige full Tomo Gakuen, also called the school of geniuses." Neji scanned the paper for further information; his eyes widened a slight fraction, quickly regaining their normal size as they reach the bottom. "It seems he, within his first week there, was acknowledged as the smartest and brightest student."

Shikamaru looked up, a smirk on his face, "A clever hawk hides its talons." He quoted an old saying, gaining the attention of the Uchiha.

Kiba looked up at the three, a questioning look on his face, "If he is so damn smart, then why the hell is he attending this school of all places?" he asked annoyed.

Neji, flipping yet another page, said; "Apparently he got expelled from Tomo Gakuen."

Sasuke's interest spiked slightly, as Kiba looked at Neji dumbly, "Huh?" the brunette grunted.

"The reason being violence." Neji ended.

Shikamaru's head rose from the table, "Violence? What's that supposed to mean?" he asked lazily.

Pale eyes scanned over the paper once more, as if to reconfirm its contents, "If my sources are correct he punched the headmasters' daughter, also the president of the student council, square in the face." Neji stopped, making a slight pause. "They immediately expelled him." He explained. "But, except for that one punch, he has no bad record. He seems to be an above average kind of guy."

Sasuke looked at Neji, seeking for more information, "That's it?" he asked.

Neji flipped through several pages, "I suppose so─ wait, hold up…" he trailed off, gaining the full attention of the rest of the gang.

Shikamaru sighed, "What?" he asked.

Neji carefully picked up what seemed to be a picture. "It's not much but there's a report on his supposedly sister, and yet earlier in the report it states that he's an only child." He said, handling the small photo to Kiba, who immediately inspected it.

He whistled, "She ain't half bad," he said, "But, they look hell of lot alike, don't they?" his dark eyes lingering at the Hyuuga.

Neji nodded, "In this part of the report it states that she is his younger twin sister, Haruno Sakura." He handled the report to Sasuke.

"Hn." The Uchiha grumbled, giving back the report.

Kiba looked at the photo again, "I call first dibs on the sister." He grinned at the other guys.

A sigh came from the Nara, "I doubt Haruno would let you have her." he stated.

Kiba laughed, "Yeah, well, I'd like to see that pansy do something about it." He looked surprised up as the photo of the girl, was snatched from his hands. "─ Hey!" he protested.

Neji carefully placed the photo at the page it had been in, "A pansy," he said, "Who mobbed the floor with you?" the Hyuuga asked, mocking him.

Kiba flushed angrily, "I could take him on any day!" he snared, gritting his teeth.

Shikamaru smirked at him, "Sure you can." He said, ignoring the tantrum the other brunette threw.

Neji cleared his throat to get their attention, "Should we get back to the main topic?" he started out, "Putting his sister aside… if it wasn't Haruno Saku who did it, then who did?" he asked, referring to the beating Kiba had gotten.

Shikamaru closed his eyes thoughtfully, "Well, it could be Hokkaido." He suggested, "Haruno is his best friend after all."

Sasuke shook his head in disagreement, "It can't be him." He stated, "Hokkaido might be brutal, but he would never start something himself, especially not for revenge." He explained.

Neji nodded in agree, "Yes. Hokkaido wouldn't have done that. And if Hokkaido is also out of the question, then who? Kiba is a decent fighter, for him to be beaten so badly it had to be a strong opponent." The Hyuuga explained further.

Shikamaru shrugged, "What about Sabaku? Haruno's a first year and he is a member of class 1-D, Sabaku's class."

Sasuke wondered of the possibilities shortly, before reaching a conclusion, "No. Sabaku wouldn't do that." He said.

Kiba laughed at the Nara, "Sabaku? Seriously! Haruno could be his brother, and he still wouldn't lift a finger!" he continued laughing at the absurd idea.

Akamaru suddenly barked loudly, jumping out of Kiba's arms, and jumping onto the desk Sasuke sat at, much to the guy's surprise. They all looked as the dog, who bit the report and tore it open, picking up a picture with its mouth. "… A picture of Haruno Saku?" Kiba slowly stated.

Shikamaru raised a brow at the dog, "It still thinks it was him who did it?" he asked.

Neji nodded slowly, "It appears so."

Before they could continue, the doors were ripped open, and a familiar blonde entered the room. "Hey guys! There's a fight starting in the school yard!" he exclaimed, running towards the window, quickly opening it. "Some third-years are gonna gang up on Haruno!" They followed him to the windows; if it had something to do with Haruno they couldn't miss it.

Directly above them, the third years were watching too, a familiar group in the middle; school jackets adorning a familiar and dangerous red cloud with white outlining.

* * *

Sakura had chosen to skip the last period, after getting a message from Ino that she and Hinata were waiting for her outside the school grounds. So she had quickly excused herself to the teacher, saying she had a stomach ache. It's not like she needed to stay anyway, not to brag or anything, with her grades and all.

She would have gladly waited for Juugo, but he had sent her a text earlier saying that they should go without him since he had something of importance to do.

As she left the school building, eyes closed as she listened mouthed the words of the song playing in her IPod, she felt a shift in the air. She had quickly taken a step to the side, dodging the punch headed straight to her face. Silently thanking her reflexes, she looked around to find herself surrounded by some third-years she hadn't met before.

One of them stepped forward, looking angrily at her, "You know what, Haruno?! It's time that someone showed you your place!" Sakura blinked a couple of times in bewilderment, confused at the abrupt declaration as several punches were thrown at her. Just like the first, Sakura dodge the punches easily but clumsily as not to raise suspicion. She wasn't blind, she had noticed the audience they had gotten.

If she wanted to keep a low profile, showing off her skills probably wasn't the best idea.

Sighing tiredly at her life, internally of course, she gave out a tiny squeak of surprise when one punch made her dodge by bending backwards. Gravity pushed her downwards and her hands flew towards the ground, pushing her body forward, performing a perfect back flip.

"Shit, I thought I got my reflexes under control...!" She cussed at herself in a low mumble, only she could hear. Saku gulped, trying to come up with some distraction. As she finally found a good way to distract the third-years from her earlier stunt, two more third-years showed up.

Sakura's gaze narrowed at the two when she saw Ino and Hinata being held pretty tightly by them, "Ooh, lookie what we found near the gates." One of the third years mocked. Sakura seethed, but tried to calm herself. "It would be such a _pity_ if anything happened to your girlfriends, wouldn't it?" he asked, grasping Ino's chin much to the blonds' dismay.

Sakura growled dangerously, "Hands off." Her voice was low, yet it managed to reach even the third floor of the school building, "Now."

The other third-year laughed at her, "You think you can boss me around, do you?" he inquired, tightening his grasp on Hinata, who by now was visibly pale.

Sakura's knuckles turned white, as she clenched her fists, "Yeah, really, who do you think you are?" the one holding Ino asked, "I do what I want." He simply stated.

Sakura's eyes hardened, pupils dilating in rage, "Calm down, Saku-kun, I'm fine." Ino said, her eyes trying to give some reassurance, though the two groups in the building didn't miss the slight caution she held.

Hinata slowly nodded in agree, "Don't worry, Saku-kun." She tried to keep her voice clean from fear, but she was starting to get desperate.

The third-year holding Ino looked down at her glaring, "Who told you to speak, bitch?" he slapped her across the cheek, making it sting red.

Sakura growled dangerously, head falling down to stare at the ground as she took a shaky deep breath, "Oh! Look, I think he's crying! What's wrong, pretty boy, can't save your lady?" one taunted her.

Sakura's head slowly went up, face and eyes suddenly calm and guarded, "Let go of Ino and Hinata, right now." Her tone was different, more blank and calm but one could not mistake the warning hidden between it.

As they did nothing but laugh at her, Sakura remained silent, but Ino and Hinata were desperately trying to get out of their clutches, hearing the pinkette call them without any honorifics; that was never a good sign.

"Saku –"

Then she attacked.

She was quick, alarmingly fast, as she stormed over, roundhouse kicking the one holding her raven headed friend in the head. She caught Hinata, who was on her way to falling to the ground from the sudden let go of her arm, in bridal style before kneeing Hinata's attacker in the face, knocking him completely out. Sakura placed Hinata down gently and gave her a quick scan for injuries before suddenly appearing in front of Ino and her capturer.

She twisted the hand of the third year, pulling Ino out from the said third-year's arms, and gently pushed her towards Hinata.

Sakura elbowed him in the face, his nose immediately bleeding violently. She then grabbed him by his collar and arm, throwing him over her, making landing on his front. Nowhere near done, Sakura placed her feet on each side of his body, and twisted his arm, watching as the third year crying out in pain as a crack was heard. As she was about to successfully break the third year's arms, a hand clasped down on her shoulder.

"Enough." A quiet, yet firm voice demanded. Blank eyes continued to look at the third-year, as the hand tightened its grip on her shoulder. "Saku, I said enough."

Slowly letting go of the third year's arm, Sakura looked up at Juugo, "…Juugo." she confirmed quietly.

The orange head nodded, pushing her towards her friends who looked shocked at her. "…I'm sorry," she apologized, "You guys had to see this happen… again." Ino growled, bonking Sakura's head as she gave out a sigh of relief.

"You idiot!" Ino scolded, "what would we have done if you'd gotten hurt?!" Hinata shook her head, patting Sakura's back as she smiled slightly. Sakura snorted, reverting to herself when she processed the fact that they weren't mad at her at all.

"Please, can you see these guns?" Sakura asked, showing off her arm.

Hinata laughed softly as Ino bonked Sakura's head again. "You don't have any!" she protested.

The third-years who Sakura hadn't beaten looked shocked at her. Juugo glared at them, making fear show in all of them. "Scram." And they immediately did as told. All scrambled from the ground, quickly grabbing their two unconscious friends, and ran off.

Juugo turned to look at the audience who remained silent in the windows, "You too." He growled dangerously, making the rest of the students scatter as quickly as possible, leaving only two very familiar groups behind.

Juugo's eyes flickered between the groups before he turned on his heel, placing a hand on Sakura's back. "Let's go." And with that he left with Sakura and the girls.

"…How very interesting."

"Yeah, that was fucking surprising."

"I agree, yeah."

* * *

**Omake: **

_**Neji: "What did you say again about taking him on, Kiba?"**_

_**Shikamaru: Yeah, look what he did when his friends were messed with, what more his sister?**_

_**Kiba: You two, shut up!**_

_**Naruto: Wait, he has a sister!?**_

_**Neji: Maybe if you came to the meeting, you would've known, Naruto.**_

_**Naruto: Is she hot?! Quick, a scale of one to ten!**_

_**Kiba: Eleven.**_

_**Naruto: *whistles* Damn! **_

_**Kiba: But tough luck, man, I called dibs on her already!**_

_**Sasuke: Hn.**_

_**Naruto: …what was that 'Hn' right now, teme?! That was your In-your-dreams Hn! Don't tell me you like her!?**_

_**Sasuke: …idiot.**_

_**Kiba: What?! You like her?!**_

_**Sasuke: …**_

_**Kiba: Sasuke! I called dibs, man!**_

_**Neji: …That's a surprising twist. I wonder what the author's thinking.**_

_**Shikamaru: What a troublesome woman.**_

_**Neji: Indeed she is.**_

_**Naruto: …Anyway, remember to review!**_


	6. What Is Up With the Harunos!

**Hey, long time, hasn't it? I'm really sorry that I haven't been really active, I seriously tried, really I did! And I know that this excuse has always been used but I am not lying, but homework has been piling up and I really need to put extra focus to this year because of something. Again, I'm sorry! **

**I can't believe my second story is doing way better than my first one…Oh well, not use complaining about it. Hahaha! I'm a bit in a writer's block again, so I apologize greatly that this chapter won't be as…awesome (Hahaha!) as the others. Kidding!**

**Got nothing else to say so…**

**Enjoy~!**

**Don't forget to reviewwwww! If I get much, I promise I WILL try to make time for a new chapter! I swear! **

* * *

"Haruno Sakura, what were you thinking?!"

Sakura winced, a sheepish look on her face as she stared at her grandfather. She didn't know why he was so mad, she had been in fights before, more serious ones, and he hadn't uttered a single word about them. But now, because she was in one fight, one single fight where she hadn't even messed up her opponent to bad, he was furious as ever.

Sakura frowned, "Can't you cut me some slack? I mean it's not like I started the fight, it was those assholes that did it…" she mumbled the last part, irritated.

Her grandfather shot her a glare, "Young lady, what have I told you about proper language?!" she nearly snorted, he was a yakuza boss using words like those on everyday basis, but when she, his granddaughter, used them hell froze over.

She sighed, "…Not to use cuss words…" she mumbled out, seeing that in his current mood she wouldn't get away with a smart remark.

"Correct," he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Now… why were you in a fight in the first place?"

She immediately got defensive, "As I said before, it wasn't my fault it was─"

"I don't care who started the fight! You're my granddaughter, and should do as told, so when I told you not to fight I meant it!"

She frowned, "It's not like I'm gonna be expelled from the school, the place literally revolves around fighting…"

He sighed, "I'm not worried you'll be expelled, Sakura, I'm worried someone will find out. It would be complicated if they did, and you know it." He said, giving her a pointed look.

She snorted, "Then why send me to such a school in the first place? I mean, what's up with that? You know I'd be bound to fight sooner or later." She raised a brow at him, pulling her legs up under her in the sofa.

Her grandfather laughed sheepishly, "Well… Sarutobi and I maybe have had a tiny little bet…" he admitted, scratching his neck.

Sakura gapped at him, "A bet? You neglected my education because of a bet with one of your drinking pals? I cannot believe you!" she said, sounding near disgust.

Her grandfather snorted, "Oh, Please. It's not like you needed more teaching, the only reason you didn't accelerate before is because you won't be able to study with Ino and Hinata."

Sakura had nothing to say, because he was right, "Well, I… I…" she tried.

He grandfather smirked in victory.

Sakura suddenly seemed to remember something, "What was that bet about?" she asked, her voice in a dangerous low tone.

Her grandfather laughed again, a nervous smile on his face, "Well…"

"Tazekawa Shin, what the hell was the bet about?" she demanded, her grandfather for once not correcting her language.

"…it might have had something to do with how long it would take before the first fight came…"

Sakura blinked, looking puzzled at her grandfather, then she glared at him, "So that's why you were so mad at me? Because you lost the bet!" it wasn't an accusation, because she knew she was right, "It is!" she confirmed, pointing accusingly at him.

"Now, now, Sakura, I was also thinking about your well being. It isn't normal for a girl your age to be getting in so much trouble…" he tried, Sakura looking unimpressed at him.

With a huff, she turned around, "Shut it, old man, you're unbelievable…" she sighed as she made her way to the door, opening it and leaving her grandfather behind.

She smirked as a, "Wait a minute young lady! I wasn't finished talking to you!" rung from inside, but left quickly.

She was happy she was wearing her normal clothes, not that annoying male uniform, and that she could pass people from her school on the street without them knowing.

She smiled down at her attire. She was wearing a regular black top, a pair of mid thigh jeans shorts, and a pair of black converse. Her petal pink hair was let loose of its ponytail, and blew against her face as she walked.

She sighed as she wonder aimlessly around the street; occasionally glancing at the shops she passed by. She really didn't know how her grandfather knew about her little slip up so fast, but she had a feeling the principle had something to do about so she left it at that.

Speaking of little slip up, she did _not_ know what will happen in school tomorrow nor did she wish to find out. But alas, she can't just skip school because she would probably be labeled as a coward, and Sakura Haruno isn't, by all means, a _coward._

A picture of a red cloud with white linings appeared on her mind and she shuddered, _"Okay, maybe with a few exceptions…" _

Hey, even she admits that those people with downright nut cases.

…Okay, maybe not nut cases, she was pretty sure they were all sane people but she was talking about their fighting techniques.

One word: Brutal.

Utterly, completely, and terrifyingly brutal.

Of course, Sakura could probably take on a member of the Akatsuki any day –except for on Mondays, she has chores to do that day– but she had a feeling that she won't be able to get away with it without fatal injuries. She guessed a couple of broken ribs, arms, and feet, and a mild concussion should be her most likely injuries. Maybe even more, but who knows? She never fought with one, and she kind of has an advantage since they have absolutely _no idea_ of her skills whilst she knows theirs. She was required to know all the possible threats to her family, after all, and to her, even the smallest gang group is a possible threat.

Shuddering, she walked faster, not even watching where she was going, and ended up clashing into something. She fell towards the ground, and she waited to feel the concreate, but it never did. An arm was slung around her waist, steadying her.

"Sorry about that, yeah." The guy, his voice and build gave it away, said. She smiled at his accent; she hadn't heard one quite like that before.

She shook her head, taking a step back to gain some personal space, "No, it was my fault, sorry." Sakura stiffened as her eyes fell on the logo on the guys shirt, her eyes widening slightly. Her eyes quickly made their way to the face of guy, her breath caught in her throat for a split second.

Blonde hair that was tied into a ponytail, blue eyes, and a handsome face. The whole thing flooded together in her brain, and she wasn't mistaken.

She had just run into Iwa Deidara of the Akatsuki.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You alright, yeah?"

She closed her mouth, nodding, "…Yes, of course." A wide fake smile on her lips.

He watched her for a second, with a quizzical look on his face. Then he nearly gapped at her, surprise very clear in his face. "Haruno Saku, yeah?" he asked, in disbelief.

Sakura flinched, but quickly masked her look of horror with one of surprise. "…How do you know my brother?" she asked, happy Kotetsu had thought of that idea.

Deidara's brows wrinkled in confusion, "Brother, yeah?" he muttered confused to himself, scratching the back of his neck before glancing back at her.

The similarity was amazing.

Twins, maybe?

Deciding that that was it, he smiled at her, "We go to school together, yeah. I'm Iwa Deidara," He explained.

Sakura smiled back, nodding in understanding, "I see… Well, nice to meet you th-" she was interrupted half way, by an unknown voice.

"There he is!"

"Over here!"

"You're dead, Iwa!"

Sakura shifted and curiously peered over the blonde only slightly surprised –this _was _Deidara after all– that more than 20 gang members were running towards them and they all seemed to be armed, and furious.

Never a good combination.

Deidara turned around, a look of horror on his face. "Shit, yeah." He mumbled, backing away slowly. Then he grabbed her wrist, pulling her with him as he ran. "Run, yeah!"

Struggling to follow his speed, she glared at him, "Why are you bringing me?!" she asked shrieking.

Deidara glanced back at her, shrugged and ran faster.

Sakura bristled, but before anymore could be said, she was tugged into the darkness, her head slamming into the same firm chest as earlier. Her eyes easily adjusted to the darkness of the alley Deidara had just hid them in.

"What the hell is your problem?!" she wriggled herself free of the blonde, shouting at him.

He tensed, shushing at her, "Be quiet! They'll find─"

"They're in here!"

He gapped, "…us," he sighed, glaring at her. "This is your fault!" he blamed.

Sakura huffed at him, "Who was it that pulled me into this again?" she asked, mumbling under her breath. Her head snapped towards the voices that became clearer and clearer. "Well, shit. Let's scram." Sighing, she took his hand, pulling him along as she ran out of the other side of the ally.

Deidara chuckled as they ran out onto the street, mixing with the hob of people, making sure that whoever had been after the blonde wouldn't be able to find them.

When Sakura finally slipped her hand off, it was outside a coffee shop. "I never caught your name, yeah?" he informed, his eyes resting on her face.

She smiled, "That's because I didn't throw it. Saku-kun always told me never to give my name to strangers." She explained, looking around.

He raised a brow at her, "…Your parents suck at name giving, yeah, no imagination at all. Saku…" he snorted to himself. Sakura's eyebrow twitched slightly in annoyance. She had come up with Saku herself.

It wasn't _that _bad.

…Right?

"Well excuse my parents for being so unimaginative," she threw him a glare, just to show him she was unhappy with his comment. She glanced around the place, noticing people giving them curious and fearful gazes and she realized they were just standing in front of the coffee shop like a bunch of retards.

"You're not alike at all, yeah."

She looked at him, clearly confused at the sudden comment, "Pardon?"

He smiled cheekily, "You and your brother, yeah. He's so… freakily kind and stuff, yeah. Makes me think he's acting all the time…" He pointed out, not scared she'd get mad at all.

She blinked at him in surprise. Part of her being _her_ included deceiving the people closest to her, and she had with time gotten extremely good at hiding her feelings. Her grandfather couldn't even distinguish which of her feelings were real, and which wasn't. Yet Deidara, a boy she barely knew, could clearly tell that 'Saku's kindness were fake.

Closing her mouth to smile at him, much like she did when being Saku, she said, "Really? I don't talk to my brother that often, so I wouldn't know."

He looked surprised at her, but before he could reply, his phone started beeping. Giving the Smartphone a glance he grunted, and picked it up, "What the hell do you want, Hidan? …Now, yeah? Shut up, you fucking albino." With that he ended the phone call. She looked at him with curious eyes, "I have somewhere to be, yeah. Wanna come with me, yeah?"

Sakura glanced at her watch and weighed her options. She was one hundred percent sure he was going to meet some Akatsuki members, if not the whole Akatsuki, and she still had to do assignment her grandfather gave her. The assignment itself won't take long but she needed to go home soon of Baa-chan is going to lecture her to death. She looked back at the patiently waiting blonde.

She gave him an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, but I really have to go."

Deidara nodded in understanding then adapted a slightly hesitant look, "I…could walk you home or something, yeah."

Sakura raised an eyebrow internally.

Who knew he was such a gentleman?

"No, it's fine. Your friend seemed like he wanted you now," Sakura bowed, "Nice meeting you, Iwa-san."

Deidara nodded, disappointed he had to part with the slightly amusing pink-haired girl, "Deidara is fine, yeah." Sakura smiled at him before turning around to leave. Deidara turned around as well when he suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, wait-" Deidara blinked, finding the girl gone already. He blinked, surprised at how fast she left, and sighed, resuming his way to Hidan and the others. It's amazing how he never actually caught her name along the time they were together.

Deidara continued to think about the girl as he ignored the fearful looks sent his way. Now that he thinks about, he never saw any fear in her eyes when he gave her his name. In fact, she should have been screaming the moment she saw the logo –which he knew was big enough to be seen clearly– on his shirt. He had to admit, he never actually knew how refreshing it felt to see someone talking with him without fear in their being, with the omission of the Akatsuki of course.

He also had to admit, she was pretty cute. He especially loved her eyes, but he somehow hated how…closed off it looked. He doesn't know how to explain it but there was something that was blocked in her eyes. And-

"Took you fucking long enough, Barbie Doll!"

He was going to fucking kill Hidan for taking away his opportunity to know the pink-haired girl better!

Deidara growled, walking past the silver-haired male to stand beside his partner, Sasori, "Shut up and tell me why I was called, yeah?" he asked with so much irritation that got even Sasori raising his eyebrow.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Kisame asked, slightly amused. Deidara threw him a glare but remained quiet. Itachi and Kazuku sighed, before Sasori spoke up,

"Pein said we were all to check up on the disturbance going on at Kohaku."

Kisame hummed, trying to recall the name, "You mean that street that a bunch of Sound bastard's tried to take over?"

Itachi nodded, "It seems they have gone a bit too arrogant for Pein's liking."

Hidan grinned as they headed towards their transporters, "About fucking time some interesting shit came up!" he yelled as he put on his pitch back helmet and hopped on his motorcycle. Sasori glanced at his partner, wondering what the usually annoying loudmouth was thinking so deeply about.

They all sped towards their destination, all using different types and color of motorcycles. It was somewhere near their destination when Deidara suddenly swayed, almost crashing into a car. Deidara cursed, getting his balanced back.

"Woah, man, what happened back there?" Kisame asked as they all got up from their motorcycle.

Deidara took off his helmet, shaking his head, "Nothing, something just distracted me for a second, yeah," he answered. Sasori gave him a sharp look, one that Deidara didn't notice. Sasori wasn't surprised no one else gave him; Deidara was his partner after all, so he knew him better than anyone else in the group and Deidara getting distracted _during _a mission was something too uncharacteristic of him.

Sasori walked pass Deidara, whispering a barely audible, "Later." Deidara nodded his head, knowing what his partner meant.

"Now then, where are those fucktards?" Hidan asked no one in particular, shifting his head to look around the slightly busy street. Kazuku sped forward, indicating for them to follow him.

Deidara sharply looked to the left as he abruptly stopped, spotting a flash of pink again. Scanning the street, Deidara shook his head. Who was he kidding? There was no way that girl was here, this place was crawling with gang members. He quickly sped up towards the group before any of them can notice him.

Kisame swung an arm around Itachi, "So, 'Tachi, what did you think about that little episode at school today?"

Itachi glanced at his partner briefly, "Remove your arm."

Kisame laughed, "Oh c'mon, four years and you still hate it?"

"Remove it."

Kisame immediately snatched his arm back, "Okay, okay, it's off, it's off!"

"For your question, I cannot say I was too surprised, I had my suspicion already. What surprised me greatly was how strong he was. Hokkaido-san seemed to know about his ability already too. "

Hidan whistled, "Ya got that fucking right. Did you fucking see that pure agony on that third year's fucking face?!"

Kazuku suddenly stopped shoulders tense, "Quiet."

Everyone froze, unconsciously moving closer to their partners to watch their backs. Kazuku walked calmly, albeit more cautiously and slowly, the others silently following. When they reached Taku, the street you had to pass to get to Kohaku Street, Kazuku raised a hand.

A groan of pain was heard, "Damn…you…"

A sigh, "It's nothing personal, Kabuto, really. Truthfully, I could care less about the scroll but, orders are orders. I was never one to disobey them, especially those from my grandfather."

Deidara felt the hairs behind his neck stand up and he reached up to rub it, giving a reassuring nod to the curious glance of Sasori.

The guy, who they now know to be Kabuto, growled, "You do know…that you are…already in Orochimaru-sama's…black list?"

No reply came from the other person, just a shuffle of something and a thud, indicating that someone lost conscious, most likely Kabuto.

The Akatsuki glanced at each other, slowly stepping out in the open.

* * *

Sakura frowned, looking down on Kabuto's unconscious form as she slid the scroll her grandfather wanted in her jacket. Crouching down to check his pulse, Sakura nodded; pleased to know she had nothing to worry about.

Yosh, Sakura thought, time to get home.

Sakura flipped her phone open, ready to call her grandfather. Finding no signal, she moved her phone in the air, grinning when she found. As she was about to press call, her phone died and Sakura froze, eyes widening and face paling.

"_You have got to be shitting me…" _Sakura thought, desperately, as she stared at the people reflected on her phone screen.

"_Akatsuki…" _

Sakura thanked the Havens that the darkness covered her hair and face and hurriedly placed the hood of her jacket over her head.

"_Alright, Sakura,_" she thought, "_play it cool. Keep it calm._"

She closed her eyes, face turning neutral, "…It's rare for someone, much less a group, to be able to sneak up on me," she started, moving her head to glance at them, "It's even rarer for said group to be the infamous Akatsuki."

Itachi stepped forward, noticing the small step back the girl did, "Who are you?"

"I'm not obliged to answer that."

Hidan growled, "You fucking are when the Akatsuki are the one fucking asking."

"_Wait a minute…_" Deidara thought, squinting his eyes, "_I know that voice…and that attire…_"

Sakura bit her lip to keep in the gasp of surprise as she dodged the grab of Sasori, who attacked from behind her, but gritted her teeth when Deidara took a hold of her arms, pushing her forward towards the wall. Preparing herself, Sakura stepped on the wall and pushed herself forward, breaking the hold of Deidara and flipping over him.

"_Well they sure work fast," _Sakura thought as she jumped away from the blonde, "_Not even a minute after talking, they attack." _

"Hey, hey, didn't your parents ever teach you never to manhandle a lady?!" Sakura said, rubbing her wrist.

Deidara moved forward, forcing Sakura to prepare herself. Eyes tracking all movements, Sakura dodged the hits perfectly, landing blows to him here and there.

"Oof!" Sakura grunted as Deidara pinned to the grown roughly. Opening her eyes to glare at him, Sakura blinked when she saw a shocked looked on Deidara's face but quickly used it to her advantage. Flipping her feet like a snake, Sakura pressed the pressure points on his leg and kicked him off.

"Sorry, Dei," Sakura quickly whispered, before running towards the darkness. Kisame and Hidan ran towards the darkness as well, only to find no trace of her at all.

"You okay?" Sasori asked, holding a hand out.

Deidara shook his head, "Can't feel my right leg."

Kazuku walked around the unconscious bodies of the Sound members, noting that they all seem to have one blow on the stomach only.

"C'mon…let's go. I think Pein would like to know about this."

They nodded and Sasori hauled Deidara up. Glancing behind him one last time, Deidara let out a shaky breath as he walked with his arm around Sasori for help. He knew, without a single doubt, that that was the same emerald eyes of the girl he just met and Haruno Saku's sister.

Out of all the questions in his head, there was only one that he really cared about,

"_What the hell is up with the Haruno family?!" _


End file.
